We Can Be Heroes
by mtfo1995
Summary: Atlantis returns home after 15 months on Earth, but Pegasus is not the same place they left. The Wraith have become stronger in their absence. With a possible answer found, both old and new people in the city need to learn how to work together to defeat their enemy.
1. in defense of our dreams

This was it, their last chance to convince the IOA to let Atlantis return to the Pegasus galaxy. If not, the city would stay on Earth for at least another year until the IOA even thought about letting them go back. John couldn't even believe they had been on Earth for _**15**_ months now. The IOA was convinced that Earth needed the city more than the Pegasus galaxy. They thought the Wraith would forget about Earth if the threat of Atlantis was gone.

Teyla and Ronon decided to return to their home after the IOA officially announced their decision a year ago. They left on the Daedalus a week later. Ever since then, the Daedalus and Apollo have been making trips between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies every other month. They would make contact with a few of Earth's allies, including the Athosians

While that had been happening, most who had called Atlantis home were forced to find another life. Only a few IOA approved scientists and military personnel were allowed to stay on Atlantis. Atlantis itself was moved back to Antarctica so no one accidently stumbled upon it. Rodney created a bypass so the Pegasus gate wouldn't dominate the Milky Way gate. Eventually Sheppard was given command of SG-4 and Rodney became lead scientist at Stargate Command. But after a few months of listening to Rodney complain about being bored, Sheppard pulled some strings and made McKay part of his team. Jennifer became a doctor at the SGC and Mr. Woolsey went back to the IOA, his main purpose to get Atlantis back to its home.

Now, Rodney and John stood looking down at the stargate under Cheyenne Mountain. General O'Neill sat at the table behind them. The IOA and Mr. Woolsey would be here any minute with their decision. Rodney nervously adjusted his tie for the fourth time in the last few minutes.

Finally the door opened. Woolsey lead in two men and a woman. One man was bald with a grey beard and pristine navy suit. Dr. Carl Strom. John already knew this meeting was important if the head of the IOA was here. The other man and the woman were wearing Russian military uniforms. The man he recognized easily. Colonel Pavel Krupin, the new Russian liaison to Stargate Command after Colonel Chekov died in the fight against the Ori. He was tall and slender; wrinkles covered his face and his eyebrows always seemed to be furrowed. The woman seemed so familiar; blonde hair up in a tight bun and piercing ice blue eyes. She was tall and muscular. John remembers seeing her multiple times around the SGC, but her name just wouldn't come to mind.

"General O'Neill, Lt. Colonel Sheppard, and Dr. McKay," Woolsey said as every gathered around the table, "I would like to introduce Dr. Carl Strom, Colonel Pavel Krupin, and Lt. Colonel Lydia Barkova."

When he said her name a bell rang in John's head, reminding him of the SG-2 leader. He's never talked to her personally or ever been on a mission with her, but he's heard nothing but good things about her. Strong, confident, a great leader. Even General O'Neill liked her, which was a big thing since she was Russian.

They all sat and General O'Neill starts the discussion.

"So, Dr. Strom, why are we here?"

"Well, General, as you know, Atlantis has been on Earth for about 15 months now. Everyone has been waiting for our answer on whether the city is going back to the Pegasus Galaxy. We've come to a decision I think everyone can agree on."

Everyone holds their breath as Strom makes a pause.

"Atlantis will be going back to the Pegasus Galaxy," Rodney and John started smiling, "but there are some conditions of course."

"Conditions?" John asks, his smile turning into a frown.

"Yes Colonel, only a few." He said, pulling out a paper.

"Of course there are conditions." McKay says under his breath for only John to hear.

"First, Mr. Woolsey will be back in command of Atlantis. Second, you're first priority when you return to Pegasus is to find a ZPM for use on Earth."

"A ZedPM?" Rodney said. "You're joking, right? That could take forever! Not to mention the fact that Atlantis runs on them!"

"Rodney," John said, trying to make him be quiet, even though he did have a point.

"First of all, Dr. McKay, this is a condition of Pegasus leaving Earth. So unless you want to stay here, I would suggest you comply with what we ask. Second, since Atlantis is Earth's last line of defense, we will need a ZPM for our new control chair."

"New control chair?" John asked.

"Yes. As you know, the original chair from Antarctica was destroyed by the ZPM powered hive ship. This was not a problem because we then had Atlantis for defense. But when talks of returning to Pegasus began, we knew we had to find another line of defense before we could even consider it. That is when Zelenka thought of the idea of somehow using the chair from Proclarush Taonas."

"Zelenka?" Rodney asked.

"Yes, McKay," Strom said, "you were too busy having adventures on SG-4, so Zelenka became lead scientist. Anyway, the team of scientists not only found a way to safely take the chair back to Earth but also stumbled upon some ZPMs. Three and a half of them."

"A half?"

"One was half depleted when the found it. It was decided that three of them would go on Atlantis for the journey back and the half would stay with us for use in the chair until you procure another."

Strom took a breath and returned his eyes to the paper.

"Atlantis will have a mandatory day of rest once a month. Teams will now be made up of five members instead of four for extra security. Every country in the International Oversight Advisory must have military personnel in Atlantis if they choose to."

Strom looked over the paper and at John, waiting for an objection. John sat up straight and said nothing. He didn't care what country the people under him were from, as long as they listened to him as their commander.

"Lastly, Lt. Colonel Sheppard will be sharing the title and responsibilities of military leader with Lt. Colonel Barkova."

Strom gestured toward Barkova, a small smirk playing on her lips. John's mouth fell agape slightly.

"You will have to consult each other before any military instruction is made, unless one of you is incapacitated at the moment."

"Why is this happening?" John finally spit out.

"To tell you the truth, not many other countries were happy with some of the decisions you made. They feel they need an international military representation in Atlantis. You should be happy Sheppard, they want to get rid of you entirely, but Woolsey fought for you to stay."

John scowled, giving a thankful nod to Woolsey.

"What, Sheppard? Are you angry you won't have all the power now?" Barkova asked.

John was surprised. He was waiting for a thick Russian accent to come out of the woman, but a slight accent only came out with a few words.

"No, I just wonder if you'll be able to handle Pegasus." John said smugly. He instantly regretted because of the look he got from everyone but Rodney.

"I was a pilot in the Russian Air Force until 2002 when I was in talks to replace Daniel Jackson and become part of SG-1. When that didn't happen, I was assigned to SG-4 along with other Russians. About year later I was reassigned to the Prometheus as an F-302 pilot under Colonel Cameron Mitchell. After the Battle of Antarctica, I was promoted to Major and was supposed to go on the mission to Atlantis but was reassigned as the leader of SG-2." She took a breath, a bit of annoyance in her voice. "Since then I have helped defeat the Goa'uld, Replicators, and the Ori and have been promoted to Lt. Colonel. I think I can handle it."

John and Lydia stared each other down. Strong, confident, a great leader – that's what others said about her, but they left out one thing: competitive.

"Well," Strom cleared his throat, "there is one more thing I should tell you. You two should learn to get a long because the IOA has decided that you will be one the same team."

"Excuse me?" Lydia said snapping her eyes to Strom. "You said I would have a team of my own."

"Yes, well," Strom cleared his throat again, as if he was scared of Barkova, "I discussed this with the board but they thought it would be better for the two of you to work together and become a team, especially if you'll be in joint command. They did agree to discuss the option to have a team of your own in a few months."

Lydia sat back in her chair in defeat. The room fell silent, everyone looking at each other.

"Well," General O'Neill said clasping his hands together, "If there's nothing else, I would like to get some lunch."

"Actually, General, there is one more thing." Woolsey said. "We have to decide what is going to happen to Todd."

Todd, the Wraith who had helped them multiple times. But how could they ever fully trust him? He was still a Wraith after all.

"He should come back with us." John said.

"Why?"

"He's been a valuable ally."

"He also helped destroy the Midway station, stole ZPMS, and hijacked the Daedalus."

"But he's also the reason we're even here. He was the one that warned us about the ZPM powered Hive Ship."

John couldn't believe he was defending Todd. But the Wraith had been a life saver in the past and could be in the future.

"How do we know he'll even be allowed back into Wraith society?"

"We don't, but if he isn't then the Wraith will just kill him themselves."

Woolsey and Strom looked at each other and Strom nodded.

"Fine," Strom said, "you can have the Wraith. Now all we need is for you all to sign this paper agreeing on these terms."

Strom pushed forward the paper he read from. All the other countries in the IOA had already signed. There were three lines at the bottom meant for Woolsey, Sheppard, McKay, and General O'Neill.

That was it, they signed away their future. Atlantis was returning home.

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading my first chapter, I hope you keep reading. I always have little notes after chapters, including where the title of the chapter came from. I also explain the story title below, too.  
I'll be setting up a list of my OCs and their descriptions on my profile page. I don't want anyone to forget who someone is then have to go looking through the story for them.  
Also, anyone who draws fan art, wants a part in my story and wants a link to their deviantart page in my notes every chapter - message me. All I ask is that you draw some of my characters they way you think they look or some scenes of my story, I always thought that would be cool.**

**"we could be heroes, just for one day" - Heroes by David Bowie (I used it as a way to show that the people who live in Atlantis are just regular people who like to have fun and be with each other, but some days they have to be heroes.)  
**

**"in defense of our dreams" - Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars**


	2. this is my house, this is my home

Lydia placed the last of her bags in her room. She began to unpack and arrange things around the room. A knitted blanket made by her mother. A few pictures from back home. Books that she arranged on her desk. She pushed her duffel bag under her bed and sat on the end of it. A small balcony was on her right and both the bathroom and door to her hallway were on her left. The balcony over looked the ice of Antarctica, the city only protected from the cold by the shield.

"Colonel Barkova,"

She jumped, forgetting the earpiece that she was given a few hours before. She was too used to a regular radio and this was the first time the one in her ear was used.

"Yes?"

"I need you to join me in the stasis pod chamber." Sheppard's voice said in her ear.

"I'll be right there."

She went out into the hall and made her way as best as she could. She had studied a map given to her and thought she got it down, but this place was confusing and it would take time to get used to everything. She finally made it to the chamber. Sheppard was staring at the pod that was holding some type of creature. As she got closer she realized it was a Wraith from the descriptions she's read. Green skin, white hair, markings on his face, even the slit on his hand to suck the life out of your body.

"I'm guessing this is Todd." She said.

"Yes." John said without looking away from the alien.

"Why is he in here? Why not just look him in a room?"

"I don't trust him that much. I want to be 100 percent sure he can't get out."

They both stared at the alien for a few moments. Lydia took him in, trying to imagine him awake. But she knew that imagining would never compare to the real thing.

"Look," John said turning to her, "I asked you down here for another reason. If we're leading Atlantis jointly then we have to learn to not but heads and to trust each other. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but I'm willing to try if you are."

He extended his hand and looked at her in the eyes. She paused for moment then sighed, releasing her pride.

"Ok," she said shaking his hand. "I can agree with that."

They made their way to the Control Tower. Woolsey and Rodney were already their along with a crew of technicians.

"How are those ZedPMs coming along, Zelenka?"

"I've placed two of the three ZPMs in place." Zelenka said over the radio, "We still had some juice left in the one here for the shield so we can replace it with the last one when we get back to Pegasus."

"Good." Rodney clasped his hands and turned towards them, "looks like we're ready to go."

"I'll make my way to the chair."

John left and two faces flickered onto the screens.

"General O'Neill. Colonel Carter."

"Hello Mr. Woolsey, how are things coming?"

"Looks like we're good to go, sir."

"Great."

"Now as you know," Carter said, "the Daedalus, Apollo, and Odyssey all left a few days ago with nonessential personnel and supplies. They will meet you there in Pegasus. The George Hammond and I will be there in a month or so to check up on how things are going."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Well, I guess this is it Atlantis." General O'Neill, "You officially have a go. Have a safe trip."

"Thank you, General."

"Whenever you're ready, Sheppard." Rodney said into his radio.

Within minutes the city began to shake. Lydia went to a window and watched as Atlantis rose from the Earth. The ice soon became distant, then the mountains and the ocean. Atlantis shook uncontrollably as she left the atmosphere. Lydia held onto the railing, her knuckles becoming white.

"Almost there," Rodney shouted over the shaking.

Soon the shaking stopped and stars surrounded the city. Lydia looked breathlessly around her. The city spun slowly and she got one last glimpse at Earth.

"Say goodbye, everyone," Sheppard's voice came over the city, "I'm taking her into hyperspace."

A second later the city was surrounded by the blue streaks of hyperspace.

-...-

It was going to take 8 days to get to New Lantea. Rodney said they could get there faster but it would seriously drain on the ZPMS, so this was the most energy efficient way to get there.

Days went by slowly. Lydia spent the first two days figuring out as much of the city as she could. Some of the outer city wasn't covered by the shield to save power. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were MREs. Real food wouldn't be available until they got the supplies from the three ships. Although, the daily game of chess Rodney and John played made lunch very entertaining. John won every time except on the 7th day. Lydia was sure Sheppard was just tired of Rodney's complaining and let him win.

Lydia and Sheppard decided they needed to 'bond' like the IOA wanted them to, figuring it would make life easier together. They mostly did athletic things, like runing around the shielded part of Atlantis daily. She and Sheppard began sparring on the forth day, although she probably had an unfair advantage from being trained by Teal'c back on Earth. They also shot together in the range a few times, which helped Lydia trust Sheppard more after seeing how horrible he was at sparring.

After getting through those days, it was finally only a half an hour until they made it to New Lantea. Rodney and Lydia were in the control trying to radio John. He wasn't answering and the tech that they sent down to the chair said he wasn't there.

"He's probably in his room, I'll get him." Lydia said.

-...-

"Sheppard?" She knocked on his door. "Sheppard? Are you there?"

After a few minutes of knocking on the door, Lydia gave up on being polite and opened the door. John was lying on his bed, back to the door and snoring away. He was still dressed, even his boots were still on. His radio was sitting on the table next to him. A Johnny Cash poster hung above his bed. His room was furnished personally and already felt lived in.

She walked into the room and was about to wake him when something caught her eye. Two photos sat next to his radio. One was of his old team taken somewhere in Atlantis. Sheppard and McKay were easily recognizable, but the other two faces were new. They both had darker skin, the man was tall and had dreadlocks. The woman was short and had light brown hair. Teyla and Ronon.

The other picture was very formal family photo. A man and woman with their two sons. The black haired woman smiled brightly while the man had a somewhat serious face. The two boys also smiled, although no teeth were shown. The older boy looked around sixteen; he had brown hair and was broad shouldered. The younger was about thirteen and was tall and had black hair.

Lydia tore her eyes away from the photo and shook Sheppard awake.

"Huh? What?" He said jumping up.

"We're almost to the planet and Rodney needs you ready at the chair."

"Why didn't you just radio me?" he said stretching.

"Because you took it off."

"Oh," he put the earpiece back on, "have you been down to the chair yet?"

"No."

"Well, come on. I'll show you."

He led her to the top of the eastern tower to the chair room. The chair sat in the middle of the room and John plopped himself down in it.

"We're here Rodney," he said touching his earpiece.

"Finally," Rodney's voice broadcasted into the room, "We only have a couple minutes, so you were cutting close. Where were you anyway?"

"I was gathering my thoughts."

"He was taking a nap." Lydia said, shaking her head at Sheppard.

"Seriously? You never see me taking naps."

"Rodney, you fell asleep at dinner two days ago."

"Well, whatever, get ready to land this thing."

The chair lit up and fell back. John's eyes closed and his fingers began to move. The room didn't have any windows, but you could tell the city was out of hyperspace. The city began to shake as it entered the atmosphere. Lydia held on to the wall as the shaking got worse.

"Slow her down, Sheppard. We're coming in too fast." Rodney said.

"I'm trying."

The shaking slowed and within seconds the city landed on the planet. The abrupt stop was hard and made Lydia fall on all fours. A minute passed before Rodney's voice came over the room.

"I thought you'd be good at this by now!"

"I got us here, didn't I?"

"Barely."

John got out of the chair and helped Lydia up.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I just wasn't expecting that."

Lydia and John made their way to the control tower. It was night outside New Lantea's moons were full and bright.

"Two moons?" Lydia asked.

"Actually there are five but only two are visible to human eyes."

Lydia looked at John suspiciously, wondering how he knew this.

"Colonel Carter told me when we first landed here."

"Oh, got it."

The control room was buzzing; the technicians there were checking computers and gadgets. Rodney was typing away at his laptop with Woolsey over his shoulder.

"So, everything looked good?"

"Yes," Rodney said, "all systems are working. Zelenka's replacing a ZedPM. No Wraith seem to know we're back."

"Perfect."

-...-

Three days later the Apollo, Daedalus, and Odyssey arrived over the planet. Lydia and John had gathered on the stairs looking at the gate. McKay and Woolsey were above them in the control room. Suddenly, a few dozen people were beamed in front of the gate and hundreds more around the city. This wasn't even the whole crew of Atlantis yet. The IOA eventually want thousands of people here and are currently interviewing people from dozens of countries. These people will be coming to Atlantis by gate and ship in the coming year. They wanted Atlantis to be an Earth colony.

A blonde woman ran past the two of them and up the stairs. She practically tackled Rodney and kissed him.

"Who was that?"

"Dr. Jennifer Keller, she and McKay are a thing."

"She and McKay?"

"Yep."

"Colonel Sheppard,"

"Good to see you Major Lorne, welcome back." John said to the man that approached them.

"Colonel Barkova," Lorne said nodding to her, "it's nice to finally meet you."

"You too, Major. I've heard nothing but great things. I –"

Barkova was interrupted by someone running and hugging her. The woman was black and had short hair.

"Colonel! It's so great to see you!" The woman said pulling away.

"Mercer," Lydia said, breaking into a grin, "I've missed you! Sheppard, this is Captain Zoe Mercer. She served under me on SG-2 and now will be on Lorne's team."

"Captain," Sheppard said, greeting her. He was taken aback by Barkova and Mercer's unusual relationship. They acted more like best buddies than military officers.

"Lydia! Zoe!" A man said jogging up to them. He was tall and skinny with brown hair and freckles over his face. He was probably in his late thirties.

"Dean, welcome to Atlantis."

"It's amazing and I've only been here a few minutes!" He said looking around the tower.

"Sheppard, Lorne, this is Dr. Dean Levine. He's one of the new lead anthropologists here and 100% fluent in Ancient."

"I've also been studying some Wraith since I learned I'd be going to Pegasus."

"Come on, I'll help you two find your quarters and unpack."

Barkova led the doctor and major down the hall and around the corner. Lorne went off to unpack and find old friends. John watched as the city bustled with people both familiar and new. Some were carrying supplies to where they need to go and others were trying to find their way to their quarters. New technicians were already being taught how different systems worked. Different languages filled the city. It seemed as if he had never left.

* * *

**A/N: IMPORTANT! - Atlantis returned to Earth in January 2009 and this story starts 15 months later so it is starts in April 2010.  
I forgot to tell you guys last time that this story will be episodic, which means that each chapter will have its own story but there will be one big plot of the story like the actual stargate series.  
Just a reminder, anyone who draws fan art, wants a part in my story and wants a link to their deviantart page in my notes every chapter - message me. All I ask is that you draw some of my characters they way you think they look or some scenes of my story, I always thought that would be cool.**

**"this is my house, this is my home" - This is My House, This is My Home by We Were Promised Jetpacks**


	3. welcome back to the same old place

"Are we all ready?" John asked.

"Let's do this." Lydia said zipping up her vest.

She, John, Rodney and Jennifer walked through the gate and onto New Athos soil. The gate was surrounded by trees and trails going in different directions. John led them down a path to the north. The group walked for about an hour, going up and down hills. They made it to a stream and began to cross it.

"How much longer is this?" McKay groaned, jumpping from stone to stone over the water.

"You know Rodney, you saying that makes me feel like we never left." John said making it to the other side with McKay.

"What are trying to say?" Rodney asked while helping Jennifer.

"You complain on every mission we've ever been on. Especially about walking distances." Sheppard said climbing a small hill leading away from the stream and where the trail began again.

"I do not!"

"Don't even try, Rodney," Jennifer said, "You do complain a lot."

"Oh great, now you've got my own girlfriend against me."

"I might hit him if he doesn't stop soon." Lydia said to John.

"You get used to it."

Suddenly, a dozen of people came of the woods and surrounded the group. They held guns and knives of all kinds and looked like they knew how to use them. One woman started to approach them, her gun held in a firm grip.

"Stand down!" One tall man walked out of the trees and walked toward the group. "Put your weapons down! They're our friends."

"Ronon," John walked toward the man.

Lydia recognized him instantly as the man with dreadlocks in John's photo. Only he didn't have the dreadlocks any more. Now he wore his hair down to his shoulders, wavy and dark brown. He looked big in the photo, but was huge in real life. He towered over Lydia and built like a machine. She thanked God that he was their friend.

"Sheppard," Ronon said grabbing John's wrist to greet him. "I didn't know you were coming back."

"Yeah, well, we thought we would surprise you."

Ronon looked at Lydia up and down, "Who's this?"

"Colonel Lydia Barkova, nice to meet you."

"Wait, Colonel? You two work together?"

"Yep."

"Good luck with that." Ronon said, "Come on, I'll lead you to the village."

Ronon and his group led the four down the trail and through the forest.

"What are you doing here, Jennifer?" Ronon asked.

"I was hoping to give some checkups while I was here, especially to the kids. They haven't seen a doctor in over year."

"It's going to take more than a day now. We've taken a lot of refugees from other planets that were attacked by the Wraith."

"Looks like you've been training some to fight." John said.

"I couldn't handle life as a farmer or even a hunter, so Teyla gave me the job of teaching others how to use guns and how to defend themselves."

"Did you steal some of these weapons?" Rodney said looking over Ronon's group. "Some look like Genii weapons."

"Teyla and I found an abandoned Genii planet and scavenged for supplies. The weapons were just lying there, so I took them."

"Have you heard from the Genii while we've been gone?"

"No, it's like they've disappeared."

"What about the Wraith?"

"They attacked about a month after Teyla and I came back. Her people sensed them early and we made it to safety."

They came to the end of the trail that was guarded by two young men. One of them looked at the group and his eyes widened.

"Colonel Sheppard?" he said.

"Yeah?" Sheppard said looking over the man. Sheppard looked him over confused but then it dawned on him. "Jinto?"

When Sheppard had returned to Earth, Jinto was a seventeen year old kid. Now he was taller and more muscular. He looked like a man who beat anyone in a fight, even without the gun he was holding.

"Sheppard, meet one of our best hunters and guardsmen."

"No, last time I saw you, you still looked like a kid."

"It's me, all grown up. Whenever my shift ends I'll have to introduce you to my betrothed."

"Betrothed?" John asked. "I feel old."

"Sorry, Sheppard." Lydia patted him on the back.

The group walked past the guards and into a wide clearing. A little over a hundred huts encircled a lake. Children ran around playing and a group of women walked back from the lake with jugs of water. Men and women walked out of the woods across from them with a few turkey like creatures after hunting. There were different groups wearing different clothing and living differently, but they were all trying to work together and to survive. Ronon led them into the village to a large hut next to the water.

"Teyla! I have a surprise for you!"

"What is it, Ronon?"

The woman opened the curtain to hut and stepped out onto the ground. Her face brightened at the sight of her friends.

"John, Rodney, Jennifer, it is so good to see you! What are you doing here?"

"Long story short, we got permission to bring Atlantis back and fight against the Wraith."

"That's wonderful. Who is this?"

"Teyla, this is Colonel Barkova."

"Hello, call me Lydia" Barkova said bowing her head to Teyla.

A toddler came out of the hut and hid behind Teyla's leg. He looked over the team and sucked on his thumb.

"Torren," Teyla picked him up, "don't you remember these people and Atlantis? Can you say hello?"

Torren took his thumb out his mouth and waved his hand only to quickly put his thumb back in his mouth.

"He knows how to speak; he's just a little shy. He'll warm up to you. Would you like to come in? We're about to have lunch."

They all sat around her table and were served a stew Kanaan had made. Torren was left to toddle around the hut, keeping a safe distance from the team. He eventually got closer and started looking them over, probably thinking that they must be safe if his parents allowed them in their home. He plopped himself in between John and Lydia and placed the toy he was carrying in Lydia's lap.

"Hi, Torren, do you want to play?"

Torren nodded, still staying cautiously silent. Lydia picked up the wooden top and spun it around on the ground. Torren clapped and went chasing after it. A sudden cry came from the other end of the hut. Teyla went through some curtains into another room and the crying stopped. Teyla walked out with a child in her arms.

"Well it looks like you two have been busy."

"Yes," Teyla said giving a quick glare at John, "his name is Malik and he's about 2 months old."

"Well I think it's time we talk about what we came for." John said as Teyla sat with the baby. "We want to know if you want to come back to Atlantis."

"You know I'm in," Ronon said instantly, "I also have some people that I've trained who would be great in Atlantis."

Teyla gave Ronon a knowing smile.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing."

"What's going on?" Rodney asked.

"Ronon's got a girlfriend."

"I do not, she's just a girl."

"Ok children, that's enough. Teyla, what about you?" John said.

"Well," she said looking at her sons and Kanaan.

"Do what feels right," Kanaan said, "whatever you chose will be for our family and people. I will support you no matter what you do."

"Then I guess I'm going back to Atlantis."

-...-

Lydia helped Teyla and Kanaan unpack their belongings. She pulled things out of a bag and handed it to them so they could place it where it needed to go. Malik was in his crib napping and Torren sat beside it spinning his top. John walked in with another bag and plopped it on their bed.

"That's the last one."

"Good." Teyla said unbuckling the bag, "I forgot how many things we had, Kanaan."

"You never know until you have to pack it all up." Lydia said.

Malik began to cry. Teyla put down the bag and picked up her son. She cradled him in her arms and swung him gently. His crying softened, but he was still fussy.

"Can I hold him?" Lydia asked.

Teyla nodded and hand her son to Barkova. She took him in her arms and gently ran her hand over the small amount of hair he had. Malik found her finger and took it in his tiny hand. He shoved her finger in his mouth and his crying stopped.

"Is he hungry?" Lydia asked.

"No, he just likes to suck on things." Kanaan said.

"Especially fingers." Teyla said going back to unpacking.

Lydia smiled down at the baby and sat down on the baby. She looked up and found John staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"It's just weird seeing you hold a baby." He said shifting is hands into his pockets.

"Why? Just because I can kick your ass doesn't mean I can't be girly and like babies." She said with a smirk.

"You're hilarious." John said glaring.

"Besides," she said, "I've held lots of babies. I even have a couple of nieces and nephews."

"Wait, go back." Teyla said coming up to them. "You two fought?"

"We spared a couple times. I won a lot." Lydia said.

"Well John isn't really the best at hand to hand combat. He's more of a gun guy." Teyla said smiling at Sheppard.

"I noticed." Lydia laughed. "How about you, Teyla? Would you like to spare sometime?"

"I would like that. It would be nice to have someone who can keep up other than Ronon."

"Well I hope you two have fun with that. I'm going to help Ronon unpack." John said leaving the two women laughing.

-...-

"Hello, Colonel Sheppard."

"Todd, how's life been?"

The Wraith stayed silent, not knowing how to answer Sheppard's sarcasm. He was released from stasis a few hours ago and woke up in a cold, gray holding cell. Sheppard stood in front of the cell, arms crossed with two guards standing at the entrance of the room

"What are you going to do to me?" The wraith asked looking down at his cuffed hands.

"We're thinking of letting you go." A blonde woman said while walking into the room.

She and Woolsey came in and stood beside Sheppard.

"The name's Colonel Barkova, by the way."

"You're letting me go?" Todd said suspiciously looking the new woman up and down.

"Maybe," Woolsey said, "You have been a key ally in the past, but you've also crossed us. We want to know if you'd be willing to be our ally again."

"Possibly, I do not even know if I'll be able to get back into Wraith society. It was hard enough to do it the first time; they'll be even more suspicious this time."

"Well no matter what you'll want to try, right? It's better than spending forever in a cell slowly dying of starvation or going back to being studied." Barkova said.

"It would be better to try."

The Wraith was weak and starving. He hadn't fed on a human for over a year. The humans that studied him back on Earth tried to feed him different animals from their planet, but nothing filled him. The animals only kept him alive.

"You must agree to keep our location a secret, you will be required to contact us once a month, and must tell us any information that will be useful to us immediately." Woolsey said.

"We have a deal."

-...-

"I don't like this."

"I don't think anyone actually likes this, Ronon." Lydia said.

"This is the best option, so we're taking it." Rodney said.

The team was waiting by the gate for Todd.

"I still think we should just kill him."

"You think we should kill everything you don't like." John said.

"Usually I'm right."

"Yes, Ronon, but we have to give him a chance." Teyla said.

"Tell you what," John said, "if we have to kill Todd for some reason, you can be the one to do it."

The Wraith walked out with two guards at his sides. He was given back his old clothing but didn't look as menacing because of his sickly figure.

"Where are you sending me?" He asked as the two guards undid the handcuffs he was in.

"A deserted planet. You can figure your own way after that."

The Wraith nodded and looked at the gate. He wasn't happy with the position he was in, but it was the best option.

"Goodbye, Colonel Sheppard. We will meet again, I know it."

He walked through the gate and closed behind him. The team stood looking at the gate for a moment.

"Well," John said stuffing his hands in his pockets, "I hope we made the right decision."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading guys! Just so you know, I start classes tomorrow, so if chapters start coming later than usual, that's why.**

**"welcome back to that same old place" - Welcome Back by John Sebastian**


	4. a sky no longer blue

"Seriously, McKay? We've been here a month and this is your fourth time in the infirmary."

McKay sat on a bed in the infirmary waiting for his test results. John stood next to him with his hands on his hips. The infirmary was alive with medical personnel who were still organizing the place. The sun shone throw the windows making the room bright and warm. A short Italian man walked over to the two..

"Well, McKay, it looks like you're perfectly healthy. Except for your hypochondria, of course" He said.

"What? That can't be right. I've been sneezing and coughing. I can't get rid of this migraine."

"If anything, your body is probably just getting used to being back in Atlantis."

"Where's Jennifer? I bet she would know what's wrong with me."

"She's on another planet giving vaccines with Lorne's team. You should know that, you are dating her"

Rodney went to protest but John stopped him.

"Thank you, Dr. Rossi. We should get going, seeing as Rodney has made us half an hour late for our mission."

The two of them got dressed and went to the gate room. Ronon, Teyla, and Lydia were waiting for them on the steps.

"Finally! Took you long enough." Lydia said getting up from her seat on the steps.

"Was there anything wrong with you, Rodney?" Teyla asked.

"Dr. Rossi said no, but I don't think he looked hard enough."

"Dr. Rossi wouldn't be here is he wasn't one of the best, Rodney." Teyla said.

"Can we just get on with this?" Ronon said.

"Yeah, let's go. Chuck, ring it up."

Chuck dialed the gate and the team walked through. The planet was covered in long, green grass. Mountains with white, snowy tops were in the far distance. The sky was bright and blue, no cloud in the sky. The sun was bright making John pull out his sunglasses. The team trudged through the knee high grass. Rodney sneezed, quickly pulling a hanky out of his pocket to cover his nose.

"I thought Dr. Rossi said you were fine." Lydia said.

"He did." Rodney said crankily, blowing his nose into the hanky.

They came to the top of a hill. Beneath them was a small village where dozens of men and women bustled around. They were dressed conservatively, like the Amish back on Earth. The team walked down the hill and to the entrance of the village. They walked along a dirt pathway through the town. The villagers watched them cautiously as the team walked through their home.

"Hello." One courageous villager said walking up to them.

"Hello," Teyla said. "We are from Atlantis and would like to trade."

"Oh," the man's eyes widened, "Then you should talk to our leaders."

He led them through the town and into a large building.

"This is where the governing council meets daily. Stay here, I will bring them to you."

He went through the door and came out with a man and woman a few minutes later.

"Thank you, Hagan, you may leave now."

The man that led them there left the building, back into the bustling town.

"Hagan said you are from Atlantis." The woman said.

"Yes, we are."

"But we heard the city left some time ago. How do we know you are really them?" The man said.

"I guess you'll just have to trust us." John said with a shrug.

The two looked at each other and nodded.

"I am Klaus Marek," the man said, "and this is my wife Halina."

"I am Teyla Emmagan. This is Ronon Dex, Dr. McKay, Colonel Barkova, and Colonel Sheppard."

Halina's eyes widened at their names.

"You were telling the truth. I recognize your names, except for Colonel Barkova."

"She's new."

"You've come at a great time to trade, our harvest has just begun and we have an abundance of tava beans and mansa fruit."

"Sounds great."

Halina took Teyla and Lydia to their orchards. Dozens of trees lined together, all with large yellow fruit hanging from them.

"Here," Halina said picking two fruit, "try them."

Teyla and Lydia bit into the soft, juicy fruit.

"It tastes like a fruit back on Earth called a plum." Lydia said holding up the fruit for better inspection.

"What do you think you could offer us in exchange?" Halina asked.

"We have many things to trade." Teyla said. "Medicine, knowledge, man power."

"What about weapons?"

"We do have weapons," Lydia said cautiously, "but why would you want those?"

"To protect ourselves from the Wraith."

"We can protect you."

"No, we must learn how to do it ourselves."

Teyla and Lydia looked at each other.

"We may be able to do this, but I make no promises."

"Well then, neither can I."

Suddenly, men with guns sprung out of their hiding places and surrounded Lydia and Teyla. The two women pulled up their P90s and aimed.

"What is this?" Lydia demanded.

"You'll see." Halina pulled out a Wraith stunner and shot them both.

-...-

Lydia's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the bright light in the room. She groaned from her pounding head. Her eyes finally adjusted and she looked around. Her arms and legs were tied to a chair. She looked to her left and found Sheppard in the same situation.

"Hey, are you ok?" He asked.

"I've been held in cells on multiple Goa'uld mother ships. I've been tortured with Goa'uld hand devices. I've had an Ori prior strangle me with his telekinesis powers. I think I can handle being tied to a chair."

"Ok, I just wanted to make sure you weren't hurt."

"Sorry, I'm just a little frustrated." She said. "So how did you get here?"

"We were talking with Klaus about why we left and were gone for a while. I guess he didn't really like what we said because he and his friends pulled out their weapons on us and stunned us."

"Halina asked what we had to trade and when we told her that we couldn't promise her weapons, she stunned us."

The door to the room opened and Halina walked in with two guards. They were wearing green uniforms and holding guns. John looked them over with a thoroughly confused look on his face.

"What's going on?" John asked. "And why are you wearing Genii uniforms?"

"Because Colonel, I am the leader of the Genii."

"What about Ladon Radim?"

"He hasn't been alive since you killed my father, Acastus Kolya."

"You're Kolya's daughter?"

"Yes."

"How did you become the Genii leader?"

"I convinced my people that you were more harm than good. And then I killed Ladon myself. I reunited my people, welcoming back the ones who were forced out for supporting Cowen. I gave people to Mardola to kill you, Dr. McKay and her sister. I was the one who came up with the idea for the Coalition of Planets so we could be the military power in our galaxy. Although it did not work, it eventually happened when the City of the Ancestors left. I only had one disappointment."

"And what's that?"

"I didn't get to kill you. You were the reason my life turned for the worse. Barely a week after my wedding, my family and I were forced out of the Genii community because my father supported Cowen. And then you killed him. My own father. Do you know how that feels?"

John was speechless, his jaw clenched and his face stoic. Lydia looked from John to Halina. Her hands balled into fists and strained against the ropes holding her to the armrests.

"No, of course you don't." Halina rested her hands on John's arms and got very close to his face. "It's like having someone stab you as many times as they could without killing you. I'm going to do the same to you, except I will kill you."

A man burst into the room. He was out of breath and had sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Commander,"

"Yes? What?"

"The Wraith are here."

She looked back at them and then quickly left the room. John and Lydia were alone in the room again. Lydia leaned her head down to her hand and started searching her hair with the few fingers she had free.

"What the Hell are you doing?"

"Looking for something."

"Don't tell me you have a knife in your hair or something."

"Not exactly." She said, pulling a small metal nail file from her hair. The one side was sharpened to an edge like a knife.

"You've had that the whole time?"

"Yes, but I knew I had to wait until after they came to interrogate us. Bad guys never just tie you up without talking to you."

She started cutting the rope with the knife. Slowly but surely she freed her right hand and then her left hand and feet. She got up and freed John.

"There's definitely a guard outside our door."

"You get the door and I'll take him out." John said.

Lydia opened the door and John grabbed the guard. He covered the guard's mouth and nose; eventually the guard stopped struggling and fell to the floor unconscious. John took the Wraith stunner in his hand.

"Where do you think the rest of the team is?"

"I have no idea, but they've got to be around here somewhere."

Above them was the hum of Wraith darts and people screaming.

"What's that humming?" Lydia asked.

"Wraith darts. It sounds like we're underground. The Genii home planet had an underground bunker, this planet must have one too."

The two walked around the hallway, opening doors and finding most of them empty. They did find their weapons cache and took back their weapons. They were about to leave when they heard footsteps. John pulled Lydia back into the room as the men sprinted past, talking to each other as they did.

"What about the prisoners?"

"They'll be fine. The two Colonels are tied up and the other three and locked up in a room upstairs."

Once the men were some distance away, Sheppard and Barkova made their way back down the hall. They eventually found a staircase and went up a level. They went down the new hall and found the last door on the left banging and voices coming from inside.

"Ronon, how many times do I have to tell you that you won't be able to break this door down?" McKay's annoyed voice said from the other side. He suddenly sneezed and could be heard blowing his nose.

"Rodney?"

"Sheppard? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Barkova and I escaped. Are Ronon and Teyla with you?"

"We are here, John." Teyla's calm voice said.

"I've been trying to break the door down." Ronon grunted.

"I can get it." Lydia said looking at the key hole. "I just need you to stop hitting the door, Ronon."

The door stopped shaking and Lydia pulled out the nail file. She jimmied it around inside the keyhole for a few minutes and finally unlocked the door. She opened it and Rodney raced out first with Teyla and Ronon behind him.

"Finally," Rodney said impatiently, stuffing his hanky in his pocket.

John returned their weapons and the group made their way up and out of the bunker. The bunker came out into a cave which was in the middle of a forest. The sky was full of dark gray clouds, every so often they were eliminated by lightning. The hum of the darts could barely be heard over the thunder.

"Does anyone know where we are?"

"I do," Teyla said, "I remember seeing this cave when Halina was leading us to the orchard. The stargate is this way."

Teyla lead them through the forest, which led them past the village and up the hill to the stargate. The stargate was active with a few Wraith warriors guarding it.

"Why is the gate activated?" Lydia asked.

"The Wraith dial in so no one can escape."

"That's just great." She said sarcastically.

"Well it has to shut down eventually." John said. "As soon as it shuts down, I want those Wraith guards taken out and then Rodney I want you to dial the gate."

The group watched the gate from behind a bush in the forest. The trees above protected them from some of the rain, but the group ended up getting soaked to the bone. A few minutes later the gate shut down and the group started shooting at the Wraith from the bush. Ronon went running out and took out the last two guards. The rest of them caught up with him and Rodney began to dial. The gate activated and Lydia sent in their code to put down the shield.

"John," Teyla said, "we have a problem."

A Wraith dart was coming toward them, intent on going through the gate with them.

"Run!"

They ran, jumping through the Stargate. They came through to Atlantis, falling and skidding on the floor.

"Raise the shield!"

Chuck turned the shield on and the dart ran into it, destroying itself. The gate shut down and the team got up from the floor. They were dripping went, making puddles onto the floor. Woolsey ran down the steps to the team.

"What happened?"

"The Genii are back."

-...-

They team was immediately taken to the infirmary for checkup. Lydia sat on a bed still in soaked clothes. She had taken off her jacket, socks and boots and had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Dr. Rossi came up to her and placed her file onto the bed next to her.

"Your perfectly fine, Colonel. You're allowed to go."

"Thank you, Dr. Rossi."

She hopped off the bed and picked up her clothes, joining her team and Jennifer around Rodney, who was being checked. He was wrapped up in a blanket and shivering with a thermometer sticking out of his mouth. A redheaded nurse pulled it out of his mouth and put it up to her eyes to read.

"Perfect temperature, 98.6." She said to Dr. Keller before leaving the group.

"See Rodney?" Jennifer said. "Nothing is wrong with you."

"But that can't be right." Rodney said. Just then he sneezed. "See!"

"You just sneezed, Rodney." John said, "People randomly sneeze all the time."

"I've been sneezing all day!"

"You are fine, Rodney." Teyla said.

"Does anyone else want some food?" Ronon asked.

"I could go for a sandwich." Lydia agreed.

"Right after I get into some dry clothes." John said.

"These wet clothes are freezing." Teyla said.

The four left the infirmary leaving Jennifer and Rodney together.

"I promise you're fine, Rodney. Now if you excuse me, I have to attend some other patients."

Jennifer walked away to other side of the infirmary, leaving her boyfriend alone.

"Wait, come back. I want to – acho!"

Rodney started sneezing and sneezing. Maybe this time he wasn't faking it.

* * *

**A/N: First day of college was exhausting! I'm surprised I got this done. Once again, if I seem late on any chapters, school is the reason why.**

**"a sky no longer blue" - Re-Education by Rise Against**


	5. the good and the evil

"Would you rather be burned alive or drown?"

"Burned alive."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, I would've passed out from inhaling smoke and wouldn't even know what was happening."

"Yes, Rodney, but that's not what I meant. I meant being burned while awake."

"Well that's not realistic."

"Ok, you two, now it's my turn." Lydia said.

The team had been walking down a stone path from the gate for a while now and decided to play a game of 'would you rather?' to pass the time.

"Would you rather be a superhero for a month or a super villain for your whole life?"

"Well, that's obvious," Rodney said, "superhero."

"I pretty much am a superhero." Ronon said puffing out his chest. Teyla laughed and shook her head.

"Super villain." John said.

"What? Why?" Rodney asked.

"I would just realize I was evil and then turn into a hero."

"Cheater."

They came upon a town made up of small, stone buildings. People went about their daily lives until they saw the group, stopping and watching them cautiously. A woman churning butter stopped her children from playing and pulled them inside their house. The people slowly but surely went inside their homes. One man came up to them slowly and began to speak.

"Hello," he bowed his head slightly, "I am Governor Bogdan, leader of my people. I am sorry about them, we are a cautious people. Have you come to trade?"

"You could say that." John said. "I'm Colonel Sheppard. This is Colonel Barkova, Teyla, Ronon, and Dr. McKay."

The man's eyes widened and he looked over their uniforms.

"You are from Atlantis, yes?" He said excitedly.

"Yes."

"We heard you had left many months ago. We lost hope and thought the fight against the Wraith was lost. But now you have come back and will defeat them."

"Hopefully."

"Come, we can speak inside."

He led them to a local tavern that was empty except for the bartender. They sat around a table and he tried to order them drinks.

"Oh, no thank you, we shouldn't drink." Lydia said, stopping John and Ronon from accepting drinks.

"Nice little town you've got here." John said.

"Thank you." Bogdan said. "We haven't always lived here. The Wraith culled our planet two years ago and we decided to leave. We found this planet deserted and decided to stay here and rebuild this town."

"Father!"

A younger man ran into the tavern. He ran to Bogdan's side and tried to catch his breath.

"Guarin, what is it?"

"You'll never believe what I found at the ruins, father."

"Ruins?" Rodney said perking up.

"Yes, there are some Ancestral ruins not far from town."

"Why didn't you say so?" Rodney said getting up.

"Rodney?" Teyla said.

"Oh, yeah, would you mind showing us these ruins?"

"Not at all. Follow me." Guarin said leading them out of the tavern.

-…-

"What I found is over here."

Guarin lead them to the ruins which were about a mile away from the city. Pillars and one small, crumpling building stood in a clearing of the woods they were in.

"We've been studying these ruins for almost a year now. It's been hard connecting the stories since the ruins have been wearing away from weather and time. The pillars contain stories of the Ancestors fighting the Wraith."

They entered the small stone building. The roof of the building was gone, most of it now in stone heaps on the floor. All four walls were covered in Ancient writing, some parts destroyed. Guarin pointed McKay to a specific point on the back wall.

"It talks about a man and a woman named Elior and Adena." Rodney said. "They were two of the best scientists of their time and were committed to finding a way to defeat the Wraith. After some time studying them and their technology, they seemed to find a way to defeat them. A disease."

Rodney paused.

"Well? What was it?" John said.

"Nothing. That's the end."

"You can't be serious."

"He's telling the truth, Colonel Sheppard." Guarin said. "That's the first time they are mentioned and while I'm not sure it is the last, I would think they would of mentioned the disease and why it didn't work there."

"He's right." Rodney said. "It either didn't work and it wasn't worthy of being written down or they didn't finish it."

"Which means it might be in Atlantis records." Lydia said.

"It could be."

"Okay," John said. "How about Teyla and I go back to Atlantis. We'll update Woolsey and get Zelenka to look this up. You three stay here with Guarin and see if their names are mentioned anywhere else."

"Sounds good to me." Lydia said.

John and Teyla left. Guarin and Rodney began work on the ruins while Ronon and Lydia waited around. The two got bored pretty quickly. Lydia walked around the ruins, wishing she could read Ancient. She did find some pictures, even having Ronon boost her up on his shoulders so she could get a better look at one on the top of a pillar. After about an hour of looking at pictures, the two of them sat down at the base of a pillar close to the building.

"Would you rather be eaten by a Wraith or become one?"

"Eaten by one."

"Wow, you do really hate these things."

"You will too once you meet them."

"How's it coming, Rodney?" Lydia shout towards the building.

"It would go a lot faster if you would stop asking every five minutes." He said annoyed.

Lydia stuck out her tongue behind his back, even making Ronon smile. Suddenly a hum entered the air. Ronon jumped up and looked around.

"What is it?" Lydia asked getting up.

"The Wraith."

"Mckay!"

"I hear it!" He said shouting while he and Guarin ran out of the building.

"Come, this way" Guarin said running into the woods, "There are caves to hide in closer to town."

They ran into the woods and followed Guarin as he weaved between the trees. Screams from the town and the hum of Wraith darts got louder. They made it to the clearing and saw two Wraith darts passing over the town. One of them started to come toward them.

"Oh no," Guarin said. "This way!"

He began to run to the right of the town. The hum got louder and louder. They tried to run faster, but it was too late.

-…-

"Oh, my head."

Lydia rubbed her forehead. She slowly opened up her eyes and looked up at a dark blue ceiling.

"Here."

A hand was shoved in her face. She took it and was helped up by Ronon. The room was closed by a web door. Six other people, including Rodney and Guarin, were unconscious on the floor.

"I'm guessing we're on a Wraith ship."

"Yeah, a hive ship."

"Great."

Within the next hour everyone else woke up. No Wraith came.

"How are we going to get out of here?"Guarin asked.

"Well, how do you usually get out of here?" Lydia asked Ronon and Rodney.

"We're usually helped out by others. The only other time we hit the cell control panel with knives Ronon had." Rodney said looking at Ronon.

"I still have some."

"I have one, too." Lydia said pulling her nail file out of her hair.

"Even if you could hit it, we have no way of getting off this ship."

"You are not serious. You are from Atlantis and have encountered the Wraith many times!" one of Guarin's people said.

"Yes, well, we're only human." Rodney said getting annoyed.

"Rodney," Lydia said cautiously, not wanting him to get in a fight.

"What about Sheppard and Teyla? They'll figure out what happened when they go back to the planet."

"Well, they're gonna have to get here soon."

All of them looked out the cell door to where three Wraith were coming down the hall. Two warriors and a commander. The cell door opened and they stood a few feet from the group.

"That one." The commander said pointing to Lydia.

"No." Ronon walked in front of Lydia.

One of the warriors pushed him away and onto the floor. The other grabbed Lydia by the arm and pulled her out of the cell. They walked her down the hall wordlessly. Lydia looked at the organic walls of the ship. She thought it looked disgusting; as if they were side some kid of animal. Things hanging off the walls, looking like veins. They entered a large, dark room. Lydia could barely see past a throne that was a few feet in front of her. A Wraith queen walked into view from behind the throne. Her hair was dark red and her face was pointed.

"Leave us." She said getting closer to Lydia.

The commander left the room and the warriors went to guard the doors. The queen circled Lydia, her eyes boring into her skin.

"Kneel."

The queen's voice seemed to echo in Lydia's head and made her get on her knees. She took Lydia's chin in her hand and forced her head up so they were looking in each other's' eyes. Her catlike, green eyes seemed to be staring into Lydia's soul. Lydia couldn't believe that she was actually wishing she was staring into the glowing eyes of a Goa'uld. She had dealt with that before and survived, but this was new and scared the Hell out of her.

"What do you call yourself?" The Wraith asked almost casually.

"Go to Hell." Lydia struggled out.

"You will tell me everything I want to know."

"You might as well kill me, because I'm not going to tell you anything."

She let go of Lydia's face and began to circle her again.

"You and two of your companions are different than the rest. You dress and speak differently. Why?"

Lydia stayed silent. The queen stopped in front of her, looking her in the eyes again.

"It's almost as if you are from Atlantis."

Lydia's heart was pounding in her chest. She felt frozen, as if the queen was holding down her body. Her mind raced, it felt as if the Queen was in her mind trying to find the information she wanted. Lydia had never felt anything like this before.

"Fine, do not tell me. You are brave and strong, but most of the others are not. They will tell me what I want."

The Wraith queen raised her hand and hissed. She was about to feed on Lydia when something shot her in the head. Lydia got the feeling back in her body and instinctively fell to the ground and put her arms over her head. Instantly a spray of bullets came into the room killing the queen and her guards. She sat up as John and Teyla ran into the room.

"Not a moment too soon." Lydia said as John helped her up. "How did you find us?"

"Long story," John gave her a handgun, "I'll tell you later."

"Where are Rodney and Ronon?" Teyla asked.

"This way."

She led them through the ship. They had to stop a few times to hide from Wraith warriors but eventually made it to the cell without being detected.

"Sheppard!" Rodney said getting up from his place in the cell.

"Hi, Rodney," he said, "Watch out, I'm going to get you out of here."

The people in the cell backed off and Sheppard shot at the control panel. The cell door opened and everyone rushed out. Sheppard handed Rodney and Ronon their weapons. Then the ship's alarm started going off.

"They must have found the queen." Teyla said.

"Come on, there's a jumper in the dart bay."

John led them through the ship and to the entrance of the dart bay where Lorne's team was waiting. Suddenly, Guarin was stunned by a Wraith. One of Lorne's men picked him up and carried him back to the jumper. Rodney led the rest of Guarin's people to the jumper. The rest stayed and tried to fend of the attack.

"Go to the jumper." Lydia said to John. "We can do this; you should go to the jumper and be ready to leave when we come."

"I'm not leaving you."

"You know I'm right, just go!"

John listened to her, handing her his P90 and running back to the jumper. The group shot back, killing a few Wraith in the process. A Wraith stun hit Ronon in the leg and he fell to the ground.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said shooting from his kneeling position.

As soon as there was a lull in the shooting Lydia sent people back into the bay. She and Teyla helped Ronon up and they were the last into the jumper.

"Let's get out of here."

"Gladly. Everyone either sit down or hold on, this is gonna be a bumpy ride."

The puddle jumper took off and headed for the entrance to the bay. Almost instantly, darts were up and shooting at the jumper. The jumper evaded them and was could now see the entrance, which was closed.

"Wait a minute," Rodney said, "how do you expect to get out?"

"Trust me, Rodney."

He fired a few drones at the wall, making a hole large enough for the jumper to fit through.

"Colonel Carter, we've rescued the group and are ready to be picked up."

"Copy that, Sheppard."

The George Hammond fly out from behind the planet the Wraith Hive had been orbiting. As soon as the puddle jumper was safely inside the ship, the hive ship starting firing on the Hammond. Lorne's team escorted Guarin and his people to the medical wing while the rest of them.

"Colonel Carter," John said, "I would rather the Wraith didn't know we were back."

"I agree. Major, make that hive ship disappear."

"Yes, ma'am."

Asgard beam weapons it the ship and eventually ripped through it, causing the ship to explode.

-…-

Guarin and his people were beamed safely back onto their planet after being checked by a medical team. Lydia and Zoe were in the ship's mess hall.

"So, what was it like being in front of Wraith queen?"

"Scary as Hell," Lydia said taking a sip of her coffee. "Just don't tell Colonel Sheppard that."

Zoe laughed and shook her head.

"What?"

"You and Colonel Sheppard. You're both trying to outshine the other when in reality you're actually very much alike."

"Us? Alike? Hardly."

"You're both skilled fighters and skilled pilots. You're both good leaders. You would both do anything to defend the people you care about. You're both very sarcastic. Neither of you like to listen to the rules."

"I listen to the rules!"

Zoe gave her a look.

"Sometimes."

"You both know how to surf. You both like football."

"He likes American football, I play soccer. Totally different. How do you even know all of this about him?"

"Major Lorne told me. Look," Zoe sighed, "the point is that you have more in common than you think. I think if you give him a chance you'll not only make a great friend but also convince the IOA you've bonded and will get a team of your own faster. Not to mention he saved your life today."

"I guess you're right."

"I usually am." Zoe smirked.

"Hey, last time I checked I'm still the Lt. Colonel and you're the Captain."

"I don't even remember the last time I called you ma'am."

-…-

About a day later they were all back on Atlantis. Lydia and John walked into McKay's lab where he, Zelenka, and Dr. Levine were on computers.

"So," Lydia said, "Please tell me you've found something on Elior and Adena."

"Actually we have."

Rodney brought up a file onto the screen and Levine began to read.

"It basically says that Elior and Adena were the lead scientists of Atlantis. Their main goal was to end the war with the Wraith. They did everything they could, such as strengthen the city's shield and make their ships faster. Eventually they thought of a disease that would not only infect and kill Wraith, but also infect and destroy their technology. Their research was so important and secretive that they did the research on another planet that only they knew the address to. Unfortunately, Adena died giving birth to their third child. This caused Elior to become distraught and give all of his time to finishing the disease. He never returned to Atlantis and the rest of the Ancients gave up on him and left without him. The only other information is the names of their children: Orah, Cybill, and Janus."

"Janus?" John said. "Isn't that the Lantean who helped Elizabeth when she went back in time?"

"Yes. I feel that he was trying to connect to his parents by being a scientist."

"And you never found any mention of this disease in his lab?"

"No, never." Zelenka said.

"Well, you better add this to your list boys. This might be our only way of defeating the Wraith."

"Oh, great," Rodney said sarcastically, "I'll just add that to my list of impossible things."

"You can do it, I know you will."

* * *

**A/N: No classes today! Yay!  
Maybe I'll post chapter 6 later today if I get some reviews. :)  
Just a reminder, I have a list of my OCs and their descriptions on my profile page. I don't want anyone to forget who someone is then have to go looking through the story for them.**

**"the good and the evil" - This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars**


	6. i don't feel like doing anything

"Do women on Earth really do this?" Teyla asked.

"Yeah, they do it to feel pretty." Zoe said.

"How does painting your fingernails make you feel pretty?"

Teyla, Zoe, Lydia, and Jennifer were in Lydia's room relaxing. It was one of the official days off that the IOA mandated and they decided to have a girl's day, teaching Teyla different things they did for beauty. Zoe was painting Teyla's fingernails red.

"Well," Zoe said looking at the other two, "I actually have no idea."

"I guess it's nice to just add a little color to your life." Lydia said painting her own toenails a pale blue.

"I always painted my dog's nails when I was younger." Jennifer said laughing. "I practically had to strap her down so I could do it."

The sun was shining into her room, the doors to the balcony left open for the warm, salty breeze to come in. Jennifer sat on the floor going through Lydia's limited collection of nail polish, not being able to decide on what shade of pink she wanted.

Lydia's door opened and John walked in clade in a pair of swim trunks and a bright orange t-shirt. His sunglasses were resting on top of his messy, black hair

"Hi, ladies," John said.

"Hey, what's up?" Lydia asked.

"Ronon and I are headed to the mainland to go surfing. I heard you knew how to surf and was wondering if you wanted to go."

"Oh really? I wonder who you heard that from. " Lydia looked at Zoe. "Sorry, Sheppard, I'm having too much fun here with the girls."

"Alright, well, I guess I'll see you later."

He turned for the door, but turned back to Jennifer.

"Wait, Jennifer, I would've thought Rodney would spend his day off with you."

"You would think so, but he decided to spend his day trying to find more information on that Wraith disease."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

He left, leaving the girls alone again.

"Ok, Jennifer," Lydia said, "I have a question. You're beautiful and smart and fun. Why are you dating McKay?"

"Well, he's smart and funny. He's sweet to me and to tell the truth, I've always liked the more teddy bear type of man than a muscular man."

"Yeah, but he's Rodney."

"He loves me and I love him."

"I guess you're right, he can just be very arrogant."

"Yeah, but I accept that flaw and live with it. Everyone has flaws."

"Not all couples look like they are supposed to be together." Teyla said. "My own aunt and uncle seemed like they did nothing but fight, but they did love each other very much. They were joined for many years and had many children. Even Kanaan and I are very different. Kanaan is very quiet and would only use weapons to protect his family."

"I dated someone who was the total opposite of me once." Zoe said. "Jordan was a painter and a flower child. I'll never know how we started dating or how we lasted for eight months."

"I guess I shouldn't talk," Lydia said, "I dated an arrogant man once. He was a reporter who went to war zones and crazy stuff like that. He was almost sucked up into a tornado once. He thought he was invincible."

"Oh, well," Zoe said, "relationships are hard no matter who you're dating."

"I feel like we're about to get in the middle of a lot of them." Lydia said.

"What do you mean?" Jennifer asked.

"We'll the IOA is so stupid that they didn't think about the repercussions of putting hundreds of men and women together. Apparently there's already been one pregnancy scare."

"We've haven't even been here two months." Zoe said.

"Yeah, well they've officially added condoms and birth control pills to the list of supplies shipped here monthly."

"She's right," Jennifer said, "I got a memo about it a few days ago. It's all going to be stored in the infirmary."

"More than they sent to the Winter Olympics this year." Lydia said.

"The Olympics?" Teyla asked.

"It's a sporting event on Earth every two years. Different countries have teams and compete for medals." Lydia explained.

"How many were sent there?" Zoe asked.

"About 100,000."

"Jeez."

"People are animals."

"You can say that again."

"Well, they did want this to be an Earth colony, which means people becoming families."

"There Teyla," Zoe said painting her last nail, "all finished. Now just blow on them so they dry faster."

There was a knock at the door.

"Wow," Lydia said getting up, "we're popular today."

She opened the door and found Rodney standing there with a bouquet of colorful flowers.

"McKay?"

"John said Jennifer was here."

She moved away so he could see his girlfriend.

"Rodney?" Jennifer got up from the floor. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to tell you that I lied to you this morning. I wasn't really researching the Wraith disease."

"What have you been doing?"

"It's a secret and if you come with me I'll show you."

"Well I should go change, I'm wearing jeans."

"You look great, come on."

"Well," Jennifer looked back at the girls who nodded for her to go on. "Ok, let's go."

He handed her the bouquet and they both left.

"I need to give McKay more credit." Lydia said. "That was sweet."

-…-

Ronon, John and Lorne sat on the beach, the waves lapping at their feet. They took a puddle jumper on the mainland and now were getting ready to surf.

"So, sir," Lorne said, "spy any hot girls yet?"

"Well now that you mention, Major, I have been keeping an eye on that redheaded nurse. I've seen her enough times from taking Rodney to the infirmary and I know she's definitely seen me. I just can't remember her name."

"Summer Lockwood?"

"That's the one. What about you?"

"Non in particular, sir, there are lots of beautiful women on Atlantis. Even the Lt. Colonel is nice looking."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm just giving her a compliment. You have to admit, Colonel, she is very attractive."

"Yeah, she's attractive, but she can also be a bitch."

The men were silent for a few minutes.

"So, Ronon," Sheppard said, "who's the woman in your life?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't think I forgot what Teyla said. You got a girlfriend while we were still on Earth."

"What?" Lorne perked up. "Ronon has a girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend, she's just my friend."

"Well whatever she is, it seems like you're interested."

Ronon paused and finally groaned.

"Her name is Lana. She was one of the refugees that moved to New Athos and one of my first students. She was a fast learner and was a teacher on her home planet so she became my assistant."

"Did you sleep together?"

"No," Ronon said glaring at John, "It never got past a kiss. She's back on the planet now taking over in my place so I can be here."

"Well, if she's really that good we ought to get her to Atlantis."

-…-

"Just a few more steps."

"Rodney, where are we going?"

"You're about to see in 5…4…3…2…1."

He took his hands off her eyes, revealing a picnic on the pier. The sun was setting in front of them. A blanket sat with the food on top and two unlit candles, waiting for night to fall.

"Rodney, this is amazing."

"We haven't been on a date since we got here and tonight seemed like the perfect night."

They sat down on the pier and Rodney opened the basket and pulled out their meal. They ate together, talking and laughing. Soon enough night fell and stars filled the sky. They snuggled together and watched them twinkle.

"This has been one the best nights, Rodney."

"Well it's about to get better."

He sat up and pulled out a small black box. Jennifer gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

"Rodney, you didn't."

"I didn't what?" He asked confused.

He looked at the box and then at her face and started to panic.

"Oh, no, this is not what you think."

He opened the box revealing a pair of diamond earrings. Jennifer's face fell a little.

"Jennifer, I'm so, so sorry." He said putting down the box.

"Oh, Rodney, it's fine. They're beautiful earrings."

"I feel horrible now."

"Don't," she caressed his cheek, "I don't want you to do anything you're not ready for. I love you. I'm willing to wait as long as you need no matter if that's five minutes or fifty years. Although I'd rather not wait fifty years."

That last part made Rodney smile.

"Now come on," Jennifer got up and pulled Rodney up with her. "I have an idea for tonight's big finale."

She took his hand and led them to their bedroom, staying there for the rest of the night.

-…-

Teyla walked into her room and was instantly hugged at the knee.

"Momma!"

"Torren," Teyla said picking him up, "why are you not asleep?"

"I tried to get him to go," Kanaan said, "but he insisted on staying up until you came back."

"And Malik?"

"He's been asleep for hours."

Teyla carried her son to his bed and laid him down. She stroked his hair and pulled the covers up to his chin. His eyes slowly closed and his mind began to dream. Teyla sat there stroking his hair for a few more minutes before getting up. She found Kanaan on the balcony and wrapped her arms around him. He turned to face her and hugged her back.

"How was your day with the girls?"

"Fun," she said, "they painted my nails."

"Painted you nails?" He asked, bringing her hand closer to his face for a better look.

"Yes, it's a beauty ritual on Earth."

"Well it's a good thing red is my favorite color."

Teyla smiled at him and kissed him, leading him off to bed.

-…-

Lydia sat in the mess hall alone. It was the middle of the night and she couldn't sleep. She had been eating a piece of blueberry pie but lost her appetite half way through. She played with her food, turning over the pie with her fork. John walked in, a six-pack in hand. He sat down across from Lydia without a word and pulled off a can.

"Beer?" He asked handing it to her.

"Thanks." She said taking it from him and opening it. "What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Me neither. Pie?" She asked pushing the plate toward him.

He took the fork and shoveled some into his mouth.

"How was surfing?" she asked.

"Fun. Waves weren't as big as I thought they'd be, though."

"That's too bad. Still, a part of me wishes I would've gone. I haven't been surfing in years."

"How'd a Russian girl like you learn how to surf?"

"I used to date a guy from California. You?"

"My family had a beach house in Hawaii and I got lessons when I was ten."

"Beach house? Your family had a beach house?"

"Yeah, my family is kinda rich."

"How rich?"

"Like millionaire rich."

"Jeez, I thought I was lucky that I shared a room with only one of my sisters."

"How many sisters do you have?"

"Three, I'm the oldest. I shared a room with the one closest in age to me and the two youngest shared a room."

"Fun. I have one older brother."

"Are you close?"

"We couldn't be more opposite."

"Sorry to hear about that."

"I'm not, he's a jerk and looks down on anyone without his definition of 'class.' You should've seen his face when I told him I was going into the Air Force. What did your family do when you told them?"

"Well my mom cried for days. She was proud of me but was scared for me. Her children will always be her babies. My dad, on the other hand, had never been so proud of me. I think he always knew I wanted to go in the military or something like it."

Lydia took the fork from John and ate some of the pie, washing it down with some beer. The two talked for hours about random things all the way into the morning. Maybe Zoe was right, maybe they would become friends.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you liked the chapter! I would love reviews - please and thank you :)**

**"i don't feel like doing anything" - The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars**


	7. checkmate

**Edit: So sheppardlover928 pointed out to me that I had a big continuity error and I revised the chapter.**

* * *

"Now, the goal of the game is to checkmate the other king." John said. "Checkmate happens when the king is in a position to be captured and cannot escape from capture."

"Okay, I get that much."

John and Lydia set up the chess board that John and Rodney played almost every day. Lydia's mind raced as she looked at all of the pieces. She was totally confused. She didn't like playing games with lots of rules. She liked simple things and things that she was good at.

They both had some downtime after lunch and he decided to teach her how to play chess. Rodney was off in his lab doing God knows what. Teyla and Ronon were visiting New Athos.

"Now, each of the 6 different kinds of pieces moves differently." John said picking up a pawn. "The pawns move-"

"Sheppard, Barkova," McKay's voice came over their radios.

"Yes, Rodney?"

"You need to get down to my lab now!" Panic was in Rodney's voice.

"What's wrong?"

"Jennifer's been shot."

The two raced out of the cafetaria and to McKay's lab, leaving the chessboard on the table. They made it there just as Dr. Rossi rolled Jennifer out of the room.

"Rodney, what happened?"

"I have no idea. She was perfectly fine when I went to get a cup of coffee. When I came back he was lying on the floor bleeding."

Lydia walked around the maze of tables and computers to the pool blood.

"You didn't find anything else weird?" she asked.

"No, but they're sending a forensics team down." Rodney answered

"Why was she down here?"

"She was spending her lunch with me.

"Are you ok, McKay?" John asked.

"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." He said, his hands shaking a bit.

"Maybe you should go down to the infirmary, just to make sure."

"No, I'm fine."

"Now I know something's wrong if you're refusing to go to the infirmary."

"I'm just a little shook up. I'll be ok."

"Ok, I want to go down anyway so we can be there when Jennifer's out of surgery."

-…-

Dr. Rossi came out of the operation room.

"So, docs," John said, "how's she doing?"

"She'll be fine. Thankfully the bullet didn't hit anything important and we were able to easily stop the bleeding." he said.

"Any idea on when we can talk to her about who shot her?" Lydia asked.

"She'll be unconscious for a few hours, so you'll have to wait until then." Dr. Rossi said, "And even then you'll have to be easy on her. She will be on bed rest for a while."

"I did pull this out of her," he handed them a dish with the bullet in it, "I hope that helps."

"It looks like it's from a Beretta."

"So, the gun all military personnel on Atlantis have."

"Great, that definitely narrows things down." Lydia said sarcastically.

After John made Rodney get checked over, the three went to Woolsey office.

"I've put the city on lockdown." Woolsey said. "No one's going through the Stargate and all nonessential personnel are in their quarters."

"Why would someone want to shoot Jennifer?" Lydia asked.

"I think she was at the wrong place at the wrong time." Woolsey said. "What have you and Zelenka been researching, Dr. McKay?"

"The same thing we've been going over for a few weeks now, the disease. It's not anything to shoot over; most people on Atlantis know what we found. I don't think anyone can keep a secret here."

"I have to disagree, Dr. McKay," said Dr. Woods said walking in, the forensic scientist on Atlantis.

"What do you mean?"

"I searched the scene and went over Dr. Keller's body. I think I know exactly what happened. The shooter walked into your lab, shot Dr. Keller in the back and then went onto your computers. I had another scientist go over your computers and found that someone copied all the information you have on the two Ancient scientists you've been researching on a flash drive."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know doctor. I just know that what, not the why."

"Is there any way to get fingerprints off the keyboard?" John asked.

"I checked, but there were too many overlapping to get a good print."

"Thank you, Dr. Woods." Woolsey said politely.

She nodded and left the room.

"How did this happen?" Rodney said. "All of the personnel here have had background checks."

"Just because someone hasn't done something in the past doesn't mean they wouldn't do something now, Rodney." John said.

"Especially if there was some type of deal involved." Lydia added.

"Like I said before," Rodney said, "who would make a deal for information that everyone already knows about?"

"A group back on Earth? Or maybe the deal was for something else and they just decided to take the information and see how much they could get for it." John said

"Are you saying that something else on Atlantis is missing?" Woolsey asked.

"Or it hasn't been taken yet."

At that moment the lights all around Atlantis flickered a few times and then came back on. Rodney started to snap his fingers and raised his eyebrows.

"The ZedPMs,"

Rodney, John, and Lydia raced down to the ZPM room. The two guards outside were lying on the ground. John and Lydia checked on them while Rodney went into the room. She put her fingers on the guard's neck and found no pulse. Blood was pooling around his head from the bullet hole that was above his ear.

"He's dead," she said.

"So is he," John said getting up from his the other guard.

"One of the ZedPMs is gone." Rodney said coming out of the room.

"Son of a bitch." Lydia said.

"Why did the lights flicker?" John asked.

"If a ZedPM is taken out by someone who doesn't know how to transfer power properly then the remaining ZedPMs will take a couple seconds to readjust."

"Well, what are we going to do now?"

"What about the security camera?" John asked.

"Whoever stole the ZedPM shot out the camera."

"Yeah, but it has a feed upstairs. There could be even a millisecond of footage of the shooter."

"You're right."

-…-

"Did you find anything yet, Rodney?"

"Maybe if you give me more than a couple seconds next time you asked that, then the answer will be yes." He said annoyed.

"John, Lydia," Teyla said walking into the room with Ronon close behind, "Mr. Woolsey explained what was going on."

"Do you have any leads yet?" Ronon asked.

"No, not yet," John said. "Hopefully we'll get something out of this video."

"Oh my God."

"What, Rodney?"

"It was Captain Vega and Dr. Parrish."

-…-

"Captain Vega and Dr. Parrish," John said.

He and Lydia walked into the room that held the two. Woolsey and McKay were in the observation room above them. Lorne, Teyla, and Ronon were searching Parrish and Vega's rooms for the ZPM and flash drive.

"Why are we here, sir?" Vega asked crossing her arms over her chest. Parrish sat looking around rather nervously and stayed silent.

"You don't need to lie to us, Captain. We have footage of the two of you stealing a ZPM."

"What? You can't be serious."

John slapped a few stills of the video showing the two walking into the room and shooting out the camera.

"What I don't get is why you two are working together. You couldn't be on more opposite sides of Atlantis." He said.

Parrish and Vega looked at the photos with disbelief in their eyes.

"Sir, this can't be right. This isn't us."

"You're trying to tell me this isn't you."

"Yes!"

"I don't remember any of this either." Parrish finally said.

John pulled Lydia aside.

"Maybe they really don't remember," he said, "it's not like we haven't ran into things like mind control before."

"Wait," Lydia's eyes widened, "I think I know what's going on."

She went back to the table Parrish and Vega were sitting at. She put her hands on the table and got in Vega's face.

"I guess I was right about The Trust not ending with Ba'al."

Vega frowned. She and Parrish looked at each other and then back at Barkova. Their eyes glowed.

"How did you know?" Vega asked her voice deeper.

"Good guess," Lydia said with a smirk, "now why don't you tell me who you two are?"

"I am Aengus." Parrish said.

"Aengus? I'm going to have to ask Levine about you" Lydia said.

"And I am Athena, the new leader of The Trust."

"I remember you, Ba'al's second in command. If you're the new leader, why would you go on mission?"

"Sometimes if want something done right you have to do it yourself."

"Well it's too bad you didn't get it done." John said.

-…-

"So, what are we going to do with them?" John asked as he and Lydia walked into the observation room.

"The only thing we can do," Woolsey said, "send them to the Tok'ra to extract the symbiotes."

"Maybe have Lorne's team escort them through the gate to Earth tomorrow morning." Lydia suggested to Sheppard.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."

"I'll make sure Chuck dials in and warns them tonight."

Teyla, Lorne and Ronon walked into the room.

"We found the ZPM and flash drive." Teyla said handing the flash drive to Rodney. Ronon held onto the ZPM.

"Where were they?"

"The ZPM was in Vega's room and the flash drive in Dr. Parrish's."

"Alright, well someone needs to take the ZedPM to Zelenka so he can put it back." Rodney said.

"I'll do it." Lorne said taking it out of Ronon's hands and out of the room.

-…-

"Are you serious?" Rodney said with a mouth full of toast.

"Yes, Rodney, I am serious." Zelenka said.

"That could never happen. "

"Yes, but we also thought things like time travel weren't possible at one time."

"Well this is really never going to happen."

"What are you two fighting about now?" Dr. Levine asked sitting with them in the mess hall.

"Something that you would never understand." Rodney said rudely to the anthropologist.

"You're so nice McKay, you know that?" Levine said sarcastically. "Anyway, when are the two Goa'uld being taken back to Earth?"

"Around now, actually." Zelenka said. "What do you know about them?"

"Athena was the Greek goddess of many things, most notable wisdom and war. Aengus was the Irish god of love, youth and poetry before the introduction of Christianity. Isn't it funny when there's a Goa'uld who was the god of poetry and then he tries to be menacing and evil."

"Yeah, not really scary like they try to be."

"Scary or not, I'm glad they didn't get away with the ZPM and it's back powering the city." Levine said.

"What?" Zelenka said.

"What do you mean what?" McKay said.

"I was told that the ZPM was still missing."

"Who told you that?"

"Major Lorne."

McKay and Levine looked at each other.

"You don't think,"

"I do."

They ran out of the mess hall with Zelenka trailing behind. Rodney weaved through people in the halls and lost Levine and Zelenka in the crowd. He jumped into the transporter. It moved him to the control tower and he jumped. He started running again, even running into a few people. He finally made it to the gate room just before Lorne and his team escorted the Goa'uld through the gate.

"Stop!" Rodney shouted.

Everyone stopped and stared at McKay. John and Lydia came running down the steps to him.

"McKay, what's going on?" Lydia asked.

"Lorne's a Goa'uld." Rodney said out of breath.

"What?"

"Excuse me?"

"You can't be serious, McKay." Lorne said coming up to them.

Zelenka and Levine finally caught up with Rodney and joined the group.

"He stole the ZPM," Rodney said. "He never took it back to Zelenka like I told him to."

"He's lying." Lorne said.

"He is not lying," Zelenka said. "He never gave me the ZPM."

"How do we know you're not the Goa'uld?" Lorne said getting in Zelenka's face.

"You can search any of my things and you won't find it."

"Well maybe that's how we should settle it," John said. "We'll just search both your rooms."

"I like that idea."

Lorne looked at both the Colonels and then set off running towards the still active gate. Mercer ran and tackled him to the ground just before he ran to through the gate. The rest of his team helped her pin him down to the ground.

"Chuck!" Lydia shouted. "Shut the damn gate off!"

The wormhole shut down.

"Now, would someone get Lorne in a cell, please? And, um," Lydia rubbed her head as a migraine began in her head.

"Get those two Goa'uld locked away. We'll take them to Earth once this is finished." John finished.

People scurried around them. Men dragged Lorne away while some others led Athena and Aengus to a room. Rodney picked up Lorne's backpack and found the ZPM inside.

"I'm going to take this myself this time." He said.

"That's a good idea, Rodney." Lydia said as he walked away.

"You okay?" John asked her.

"Yeah, I just have a headache."

-…-

"So," Lydia said walking up to the cell Lorne was in, "since you're not really Major Lorne, who are you?"

"I am Raijin." He said with a deep voice.

"You want to tell me who else is a Goa'uld?"

"I do not know what you mean."

"You really want me to believe that no other Goa'ulds are here? You've proven you would do anything to get a ZPM."

"I will tell you that there is one more left. His name is Vulcan."

"That's all you're going to tell me?" Lydia said crossing her arms over her chest.

Raijin stayed silent, staring at her. She stood in front of the cell for a moment before leaving the room. She left two guards in the room with him with stunners and then walked through the halls. They were empty now and the city seemed eerily quiet. She made it to the conference room where the others were waiting. Even they were being watched by a few guards with stunners.

"His name is Raijin," she said to the others, "and he said there is one more Goa'uld here who goes by the name Vulcan."

"Vulcan? You mean like," John said holding up the Vulcan salute from Star Trek.

"No," Levine said, "Vulcan was the Roman god of fire long before Star Trek came along. And Raijin was the Japanese god of thunder, lightning and storms."

"Knowing his name doesn't tell us anything." Woolsey said, "We need to keep doing what we're doing, testing everyone in the city. Including everyone in this room. All of the doctors and guards have already been tested and cleared. Everyone who hasn't been tested is confined to their quarters."

"Can't we just test the men since the Goa'uld is a guy?" Ronon asked.

"Doesn't work that way," Lydia said, "we've seen a male Goa'uld in a woman before."

"Well we definitely want to make sure we test everyone. He could have lied about there only being one more." Rodney said.

-…-

John walked out of the infirmary and put his black uniform jacket back on over his t-shirt. The halls were slightly busy again with over half of the city. The rest were still waiting to be checked. No Goa'uld had been found yet.

He walked through the maze of halls to the mess hall. He picked up a water bottle and a ham sandwich and made his way outside to the balcony.

"So, I guess neither of you are an evil alien." John said sitting down with Lydia and Teyla.

"We are not." Teyla said grabbing a handful of popcorn from a bag.

"More people are filtering into the city, so that means we'll find out who it is soon."

"That's good." Lydia said fiddling with a few grapes on her tray.

"Are you alright?" Teyla asked.

"Yeah, I just have a weird feeling in my stomach and my migraine won't go away. My head is pounding."

"Why don't you get some rest? We can handle this." John said.

"I would, but I wouldn't be able to relax with this going on."

Within a few minutes Lydia had fallen asleep with her head lying on her arms. The sun was beginning to set, the sky full of oranges and reds. The two moons were already in the sky, waiting for the black sky of night. Rodney and Ronon found the group outside after being cleared by Jennifer.

"What's this?" Rodney asked gesturing to Lydia.

"This, Rodney, is a human being of the female kind." John said sarcastically.

"I know what she is," Rodney glared at John, "I mean why is she asleep?"

"She is exhausted, Rodney," Teyla said, "and she has a migraine."

"I get exhausted and migraines, too, you know." He said gruffly while sitting down.

"Yeah, but she doesn't complain about it every day." Ronon said.

The three laughed as Rodney folded his arms over his chest. Suddenly, the city's alarm started going off. Everyone on the pier immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at the city. Lydia jumped awake and looked around.

"What the Hell's going on?" She shouted over the alarm.

"I have no idea." Rodney said getting up.

He raced into the city with the team close behind. Pushing people out of the way and making rude comments as he went, Rodney was first to the control room.

"Chuck," McKay said out of breath.

"It's the self-destruct, sir." Chuck said, "It turned on by itself."

"Move," Rodney said taking Chuck's seat.

McKay furiously typed away on the computer as the clock ticked off under a minute. Something caught Teyla's eye and she walked to the other side of the control room.

"I need both of your codes," McKay said pointing to Barkova and Sheppard.

The two hurriedly typed in their codes in the computers and the alarm stopped.

"Nice job, Rodney." John said.

"Thanks, but that wasn't all that hard." Rodney said getting up from the chair.

"What do you mean?" Lydia said.

"It was just as if someone set of the self-destruct; it just needed a couple of codes to turn it off. Usually when an enemy sets it off they make it harder to turn it off."

"An enemy?"

"Please, you really don't think this was the other Goa'uld?"

"I think Rodney is right." Teyla said, "It looks like it was a distraction."

The group joined her next to the city's life signs detector.

"Oh, no."

A blue dot was leaving the ZPM room and was a few steps away from rejoining the rest of the city's population and being lost to them.

"Shut that door!" Lydia shouted.

Rodney jumped onto a computer and quickly typed away.

"Done!" He said looking back at the dot.

The dot started moving faster toward the doorway, trying to get through before it closed. Thankfully the door closed before he or she could make it. The dot stopped for a moment and then turned around.

"Rodney, shut all the doors you can to trap that Goa'uld." John said. "The four of us are going to go get it."

McKay nodded and turned to the computer. The group of four set off to the locker room.

"Finally something I can do." Ronon said pulling out his gun.

"Just make sure you set that thing to stun, Chewie."

-…-

"We're here Rodney." John said.

The four of them were in front of a door that trapped the Goa'uld. Teyla, John and Lydia had vests on and were holding Wraith stunners. The door opened and they slipped inside, the door closing behind him.

"Take the second left hallway and then make a right turn. He should be there." McKay said over their radios.

The group silently walked down the blue hallway of Atlantis. Their stunners were raised up, ready to shoot. The sky outside was dark, the hallway only illuminated by the two full moons. They rounded the corner through to the left hallway. Lydia's heart was beating so fast that it was drumming in her ears. She wouldn't be surprised if the others could hear it. A shoe squeaked on the floor and they stopped and looked at each other.

"Who was that?" Lydia asked.

The other three shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders.

"He's right around the corner." Rodney said over the radio.

John signaled that he was going ahead and for the others to stay behind. He raised his stunner to eye level and slowly circled the right corner. His face dropped into an expression of surprise. Suddenly a shot rang out and John fell to the ground.

"John!" Teyla shouted as Ronon pulled her behind a pillar,

Lydia's heart dropped as she looked at John's deathly still body. She came back to reality and jumped behind a pillar as a few bullets came her way. A man came around the corner, handgun raised at them. Lydia peaked around the corner and her eyes widened.

"Mr. Woolsey?"

The man looked up at her and glared behind his glasses.

"My name is Vulcan."

He had the ZPM in one hand and a handgun in the other. His red Atlantis uniform was splattered with a few flecks of Sheppard's blood. He looked from the three behind the pillar to John on the floor.

"Tell Dr. McKay to open the doors." The deep voice said.

"Why the Hell would I do that?" Lydia asked.

"Because, you wouldn't want the good Colonel to die." He said pointing the gun at Sheppard.

Barkova watched him silently, going over scenarios in her head.

"Unless this is what you want." The Goa'uld said. "Without him you would be able to be military leader all be yourself."

He began to laugh, his cackling reminding her of the other Goa'ulds she met on SG-4. She looked at John on the floor, a small pool of blood forming around his shoulder. He laid there silently, hopefully unconscious. She looked behind her at Teyla and Ronon when an idea hit her.

"Open the door."

The others looked at her with surprise.

"What?" Rodney's surprised voice came over the radio.

"You heard me, McKay." Lydia said.

"Done."

Vulcan pointed his gun at the three and slowly walked backwards away from them. After a few feet, he turned and ran down a hallway. Teyla, Ronon and Lydia ran to John. Teyla crouched down beside him and checked his pulse.

"He's alive." She said putting pressure on the bullet wound on his right shoulder.

"Why did you open the door for him?" Ronon asked gruffly.

"I needed him to walk away so we could get to Sheppard. Trust me, I have plan." Lydia explained. "Teyla, stay here with Sheppard and call a med team. Ronon and I are going after the Goa'uld."

"I will." Teyla said pulling out pads to put more pressure on the wound.

"McKay," Lydia said into her radio. "As soon as I give the word, I want that door closed again."

"I'm on it." He said back.

Ronon and Lydia left Teyla and John, sprinting in the direction Vulcan went. They turned down a hallway and heard the squeaking of the Goa'uld's shoes not far in the distance. They quietly turned the corner and found him quickly walking towards an open doorway. Lydia motioned for Ronon to hide behind a column as she sneaked closer to the Goa'uld.

"Now, McKay!"

The door closed in front of them, Vulcan turning to her.

"Drop it!" Lydia shouted as he raised his gun.

Instead of pointing it at her, he pressed the barrel against the ZPM.

"Let me go or I'll destroy it."

"Why does that matter? Either you have it or it's gone and I'd rather it be destroyed than in your hands."

"How do you know we're not taking it for your own good?"

"Please, when has a Goa'uld ever tried to actually help humans? When you steal something it's always for your own personal gain."

"Killing the Wraith is also something you would like."

"We would like that, but I still don't trust you. I'd rather have the ZPM here to protect Atlantis when the Wraith finally figure out we're back."

Vulcan raised his gun at Lydia. He shot in air just as Ronon tackled him to the ground. Lydia fell to the ground, hearing the bullet fly past her ear. She sat up just as Ronon pulled the gun out of Vulcan's hand. She stunned him, the man unconsciously going limp. Ronon and Lydia sat there for a minute, catching their breath.

"We got him Rodney." Lydia said over the radio. "Get a team down here with cuffs and someone to replace the ZPM."

-…-

The next night, John sat in a bed in the infirmary. He was immediately wheeled into surgery when the medical team had made it to Teyla and him. Now he was bored just lying in bed with his right arm in a sling.

"Well, well, look who's up." Lydia said pulling a chair over to his bed.

"Hey, Barkova, heard you almost got shot, too."

"Yeah, heard it fly past my ear. Thankfully Ronon saved me."

"What happened with the Goa'uld?"

"They were all sent back to Earth so they could be taken to the Tok'ra. It'll probably be about two weeks before they can all return. I sent Zoe with them to debrief everyone. General Landry is testing everyone at Stargate Command just to make sure there are no Goa'uld there."

"How's Dr. Keller?"

"She's fine, sleeping in a bed on the other side of the infirmary. Rodney's been with her ever since this ended."

"So, who's in charge with Woolsey gone?"

"I am actually." Lydia said with a smirk. "What about you? How long are you gonna be out?"

"Doc said I'll be in the sling for at least four weeks, probably five. Then I have to wait two more weeks until I can go back on missions."

"Hmm, seven weeks without Sheppard. I think I'm going to like this." Lydia said.

John glared as Lydia began to laugh.

"What do you have there?" John asked pointing to a bag she had next to her.

"Oh, yeah, you never finished teaching me how to play chess."

Lydia pulled a chess set out of the bag and placed it beside John on the bed.

"Unless you don't think you can with one hand."

"If I can beat Rodney blindfolded, I can teach you with one hand."

"Yeah, but you cheated that time. You didn't tell Rodney you could see through that scarf."

"What he doesn't know won't kill him. Now let's see if you remember where the pieces go."

John taught Lydia everything she needed to know about chess. They even played a game well into the night when most of the nurses had gone to bed. John would never tell her that he let her win.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you guys liked the chapter :)**

**"checkmate" - just got the idea for the title after writing the first couple sentences**


	8. mother, do you think he's dangerous?

**A/N: if you didn't read the revised chapter 7, I suggest you do a quick read through**

* * *

John took a spoonful of orange jello, awkwardly shoveling it in his mouth with his left hand. His dominate right arm was useless in the sling where it had been for a week and a half. Ronon watched in amusement, laughing at the Colonel. Teyla had a five month old Malik sitting on her lap and was spoon feeding him some applesauce. In between spoonfuls, the baby watched John struggle to feed himself.

"You ok, Sheppard?" Ronon asked.

"Do you need me to feed you too, John?" Teyla asked laughing, wiping some applesauce off Malik's chin.

John glared at her, bringing more jello to his mouth. Before he could eat it, it all fell off his spoon and onto his lap. Ronon laughed, his mouth full of food. His laugh caused little Malik to laugh, his whole body shaking from how hard he laughed. Teyla began to giggle from the two boys laughing.

"That's it!" John said getting up from his chair, the jello sliding onto the floor.

"Oh, John, I'm sorry." Teyla apologized.

"Yeah, me too." Ronon said still laughing a bit.

"It's fine; I just never knew how much I relied on my right hand. I guess I'm not eating until I get out of this sling." John said. "I'm going to see what Lydia's up to."

John left the cafeteria and entered the transporter. He pushed the button to take him to the control tower and was instantly taken there in a white flash. After waving to Chuck, he crossed the bridge to enter Woolsey's office.

Lydia sat behind the desk with a tablet in her hand. She rubbed her forehead with the other hand, furrowing her brow. Sighing, she put down the tablet and took a sip from the large cup of coffee next to her. She waved at John as he walked in the room and picked the tablet back up.

John sat down across from Lydia and looked her over. He had never seen her disheveled before. Her usually slicked back hair was still in its usual bun, but a few hairs were sticking out of the bun. Her black military jacket was hanging over the back over chair leaving her only in her black t-shirt. Her eyes seemed droopy, willing to fall asleep at any moment. John couldn't even think of a time he had seen her drink coffee.

"When was the last time you got some sleep?" He asked.

"Last night." She said without looking up from the tablet.

"For how long?"

"A couple hours." She said yawning.

"I think you should get some sleep." John said.

"I'm fine." She said still not looking up from the tablet.

"What are you reading?" John asked, taking the tablet from her with his free hand.

"Hey!" Lydia said grabbing for it.

John quickly pulled it out of her reach and started reading. Lydia sat back in her chair.

"It's from Lorne's report from his mission yesterday." Lydia said. "They found some ruins, but unfortunately no mention of Elior or Adena."

"Oh, well," John said putting the tablet back on the desk, "why do you have to read it?"

"I have to read it before it gets officially filed into records. It's part of my job as temporary leader."

"Yeah? Well I've never seen Woolsey this tired."

"Well there's been a lot more paper work because of the Trust situation. Plus, I'm not used to this much paperwork. I hate paperwork with a passion." Lydia said sighing. "I also think Woolsey loves doing this stuff."

"It wouldn't surprise me." John said laughing, finally making Lydia smile.

Suddenly, the stargate activated. John and Lydia rushed out of the office just as Chuck raised the shield.

"I'm getting a video feed," Chuck said, "should I let it through?"

"Yes." Lydia said.

The screen came to life, Todd's face appearing on screen.

"Todd," John said, "we thought you were dead."

The Wraith smirked. He looked much healthier than the last time they saw him. He wasn't skin and bones, looking like he had a couple of good feedings. His clothes were different. It was still the black, leather that Wraith usually wore, but newer and a different design.

"Why would you think that, Colonel Sheppard?"

"Seeing as you agreed to contact us every month after we let you go and this is the first time you contacted us after three months."

"I had to take some time for the others to trust me. That meant I could not randomly leave."

"Well, you contacting us must mean you have something important to tell us."

"I do," the Wraith said, "but I'm only willing to tell you if you let me through."

Lydia and John looked at each other, knowing he was eventually going to ask this. Lydia didn't want to deal with this, wishing Woolsey was here to make this decision. But Woolsey wasn't here and she knew what the Wraith had to say was going to be extremely important.

"Fine," Lydia said, "you can come through. But I hope you know you'll be under guard the whole time."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Todd said chuckling.

-…-

"Sorry I'm late," Rodney said walking into the conference room.

"It's fine, Rodney," Lydia answered, "just take a seat."

Rodney awkwardly looked around the table; the only seat left being between Todd and Ronon. He reluctantly sat down, hoping Ronon could help himself from lunging at the Wraith. Todd sat across from Lydia from the table, two guards standing behind him. Teyla, John and Lydia had handguns on their belts and Ronon had his gun resting on his lap.

"Alright, Todd, let's get on with this." John said.

"As you know, the Wraith were at war when Atlantis left the galaxy." Todd began. "When they realized the city was gone, they scrambled to gain power and quickly started culling worlds. This made both the war and our food shortage worse. Not long after, a Queen calling herself the Queen Mother began reuniting the Wraith. She preached about a vision she had saying she would eventually find a large population of humans, including Earth. Over the months all Wraith stopped fighting and came under her alliance. She began setting rules, such as rationing food. She assigned different planet to different hives and told them when they were allowed to cull. She has even killed queens and commanders who she deemed too weak and were not good enough to be allowed to feed."

When a hive found me, I was immediately taken to her so she could decide what to do with me. I told her that you had captured me and taken me to Earth to study me. I did have to tell her that you have returned and that I escaped, but I did not tell her what planet Atlantis was on. She was so intrigued by my story that she made me one of her commanders. Although, she could have done this just to keep an eye on me. When the others questioned her, she said I was an important part of her vision."

"You don't seriously believe these visions she has." Rodney said.

"I am not sure. Queen Mother has been alive for over fifty thousand years, one of our oldest queens. She would know how to manipulate other Wraith and I have never heard of a queen having visions. I do know that some of the others do not believe her. They follow her because it was a way out of the war. Some queens follow her so they can try to kill her and take her position. I do not believe this will happen, though. She is too heavily guarded."

"That's not something new." Ronon said. "We've handled guards before."

"I do not think you understand. Her hive ship is almost two times the size of normal one. Warriors line every corridor"

"Is that it, Todd?" Lydia asked.

"I have not gotten to the important part yet." He said.

Lydia sat up and watched him carefully.

"What do you mean you haven't told us the important part yet?" John asked. "That all seem pretty important."

"The Queen Mother knows where Atlantis is." Todd said. "Or she says she does. She took a great interest when I told her you were back. A few weeks later, we lost contact with a hive ship culling a planet close by. When we went to investigate, the ship was destroyed and we all knew it could've only been destroyed by you. A short time later, Queen Mother told me she knew the address of Atlantis. She said she saw it in a vision. When I asked her if we were going to attack, she said it wasn't the right time."

Todd paused. They sat silently; the team letting his message sink in. John knew things were going to be different when they returned, but he never imagined a super queen controlling all of the Wraith.

"She will strike soon. She knows destroying Atlantis will solidify her position. All queens will truly bow to her and no one will question her, even in private. You all should get ready, a war is coming."

-…-

Todd left the city, going back to the planet he had contacted them from. He was going to explain to the Queen Mother that he had been inspecting planets' human populations. Everyone had gone back to their lives, pretending they thought everything was going to be ok. Teyla was going to have to explain things to Kanaan without showing emotion for the sake of her sons. Then she and Ronon would be going to New Athos to advise the high council. Rodney was going to tell Jennifer, who was still on bed rest from the bullet wound in her back.

Lydia was back in the office, writing a new report that will have to be sent to Earth in the next few hours. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, not knowing what to write. Her head pounded, the migraine she had this morning not even comparing to the one she had now. Staring at the screen only made it worse, but she had to get this done. John walked in placed a large slice of pie on the desk.

"I thought you could use a pick me up." He said sitting down. "I would've brought beer, but I only have one hand."

"It's fine, I don't think the IOA would like it if I wrote a drunk report. I don't think my head would like it either."

"Eat then, it'll make you feel better."

What kind of pie?" She asked eyeing it suspiciously.

"Peach."

Lydia pushed the laptop away and picked up a fork on the plate. John picked up the other and the two shared the pie.

"So, what do you think of what Todd said?" Lydia asked.

"I think he's more loyal than I thought he was or he left some things out." John said.

"Yeah, he was instantly given a high position by this queen. Why come back and tell us?"

"I don't know, but something is definitely going on and we have to figure it out before it happens or we're all dead."

"Well, that's a comforting thought." Lydia said with a mouth full of pie.

"You're as bad as Ronon." John said. "I would've thought you'd be more ladylike."

"I guess not." Lydia said shrugging her shoulders and smiling.

John took the last forkful of pie.

"Hey, what if I wanted that?" Lydia asked.

"Oh, well."

John quickly shoved the fork in his mouth, Lydia lunging over the desk after it. He smiled, pulling the clean fork out of his mouth. Lydia glared at him, head and arms dangling over the side of the desk. She looked around at herself and began to laugh. John began to laugh too, happy that he got the woman to smile. Both forgot about life for a moment and laughed with each other.

* * *

**A/N: sorry it took a while, work was crazy the last couple days. I have school tomorrow, but I'll get 9 out as soon as possible.**

**"mother, do you think he's dangerous?" - Mother by Pink Floyd (the actual line is "mother do you think she's dangerous", but I changed it to refer to Todd)**


	9. the deal that i'm making

"The Apollo has just arrived."

"Thank you, Chuck."

Lydia and John waited in the control room waiting for Mr. Woolsey's return. John's arm was still resting in a sling with about four and a half weeks to go. He looked at Lydia and was happy to see her looking herself again. Her blonde hair was slicked back in a bun, not a hair out of place. Her uniform was clean and proper. Eyes free of sleepless bags, bright blue again. With her hands behind her back, she waited patiently with a small smile on her lips.

"Someone looks happy for Woolsey to be back." John said.

"I got my first full night's sleep last night and I forgot how good that felt. I never want to be leader again." She said. "Make sure I remember this if they ever offer me the job again."

"I will." John promised.

Woolsey appeared in front of them in a white light, suit and all.

"Mr. Woolsey, it's good to have you back after all these days."

"It's good to be back and to be myself."

"I can only imagine." John said, readjusting the strap of his sling.

"I am sorry about your shooting you, Colonel Sheppard." Woolsey said, walking with the two to his office.

"It's fine, you weren't yourself." John said sitting down across the desk.

"Anything happen while I was gone?" he asked.

"Other than Todd telling us that there's an all-powerful Wraith queen out to get us? Nothing really." John said sarcastically.

"Ah, yes," Woolsey said, "That's the first thing on my to-do list."

"Now, Sheppard," Lydia said, "don't forget that Lorne's team found a new planet to trade with. Unfortunately, a few days later they became new members of New Athos after being attacked by the Wraith."

"That's unfortunate, it seems like more and more people are being uprooted because of the Wraith."

"Speaking of, a trading partner of the Athosians would like to meet with us. They want our helps to clear out an old mine to use as a hiding place if the Wraith attack." Lydia explained.

"Well, that will be your first mission back on active duty, Colonel Barkova. I want you to go to that planet and negotiate what they'll trade man power for."

"Not as exciting as I wish it could be, but I'm glad to be finally going off world again."

Lydia turned out the office with Sheppard close behind.

"Sheppard, where do you think you're going?" Woolsey asked.

"To get ready." Sheppard said innocently.

"Your arm is still in a sling."

"It's a simple negotiation, I'll be fine."

"No, not until you're cleared by Dr. Rossi."

John sighed, accepting his fate.

-…-

The group of four casually entered the village. The villagers paid barely any attention to them as they were used to visitors on their planet. They went about their daily lives: a woman sweeping the dust out of her home, children playing tag in the streets, a man leading a hog to the butcher's shop. Lydia watched the pig walk patiently beside his owner. She felt sorry for the pig, not even knowing he was being led to his death.

The sun was beginning to set as they entered the marketplace. A few people stopped, bowing their heads to Teyla who they recognized from her previous visits. The place was very noisy with people trying to sell their goods before everyone left for the night. One man was especially noisy, shouting at Teyla and Lydia about his handcrafted bead necklaces. He ran in front of the group, stopping them. He shoved a purple and blue necklace in Teyla's face. Ronon gave him one look and the man immediately shut up and ran away.

"Teyla Emmagan," a black-haired woman approached them, "how good it is to see you."

"Lunete, it's been too long." Teyla said bowing her head. "I would like to meet my companions from Atlantis: Lydia Barkova, Ronon Dex and Rodney McKay."

"It is nice to meet you all. Why don't we get right to the negotiations? Follow me, we can talk in the tavern."

She led them to a tavern on the other side of the market. It already held a few patrons who were laughing and drinking, paying no attention to the people who had just entered. Lunete sat them at table with her at the head.

"What do you have to offer?" She asked.

"We have man power and technology to make it very easy to clear and stabilize your old mine." Lydia said.

"Wonderful, the Athosians were right about you. What would you like in return?"

"We were wondering what you had to give in return." Rodney answered.

"Well, we do have…"

Ronon was bored, Lunete's voice fading from his ears. He didn't even know why he was here, what did he have to offer at a negotiation? He was glad to get off world again, but now wished he was back on Atlantis. He should've used this time to go visit Lana, he missed her so much. He tried to see her a week ago, but she was off hunting and wouldn't have been back for a day or two. He missed her auburn hair that smelled like berries even after an hour of sparing. He missed her hazel eyes that sparkled every time she laughed.

Movement outside caught his eye. A few people moved past the tavern's window. It was dark, but it was strangely deserted outside for this time of night. Ronon looked around the room finding that most of the people that were there when they first arrived were gone. The door opened and the first thing that Ronon saw was a pistol.

"Gun!" he shouted, standing up and pulling out his gun.

Instantly, Teyla and Lydia stood up and turned towards the door, pulling out their handguns. These were the only guns they had brought with them. Rodney stood up with them, too surprised to do anything else. Their chairs clattered to the floor. About seven men and woman walked into the tavern, all carrying guns pointed at the four. The bartender and patrons left also stood up and pulled out weapons. Lunete sat still in her chair, trying not to make eye contact with the team. Halina and Klaus walked in beside their seven soldiers. Halina was sporting a long, healing scratch down the left side of her face that would definitely scar.

"Put down your guns," Halina said, "you are surrounded."

Lydia watched her cautiously and, knowing that she had no other choice, put her gun down on the table. Teyla and Rodney followed suit, putting their's beside Barkova's. Ronon stood his ground, gun pointed at Halina's head.

"Put it down, now!" She shouted, all of her men's guns aimed at Ronon.

"Ronon," Teyla said giving him a look.

He paused and then placed his gun with the others. The four sat back down in their seats and Halina began to circle the table.

"First off, I'd like to thank Lunete for organizing this little get together." Halina said in a fake sweet voice. She stopped behind Lunete, whose head was still down and looking away from them.

"You did this?" Teyla asked, forcefully pulling Lunete's face to look at them. "I trusted you and have known since we were girls. Why?"

"They promised us help, Teyla. The Wraith are stronger than ever and we knew it was only a matter of time before we were culled. They said they could help us, we just had to give you to them in exchange."

"Yes, you fulfilled your promise, so we will help you."

"Only you can barely help yourselves. You were attacked only weeks ago and at least half of the people on your planet had to of been culled." Lydia said.

"You're right, I was even culled and taken to the queen. But we made a deal and she let me and most of my people go." Halina said with a smirk.

"A deal? What kind of deal?" Rodney scoffed.

"One that is none of your business. But you can see the reminder she left me." Halina said pointing at the scratch on her face. "You can go, Lunete, I'll speak with you later."

Lunete frantically stood up and quickly walked out of the tavern, slipping past the soldiers so she didn't touch them. Halina pulled out the seat Lunete had been sitting in, the legs scratching against the wood floor. She sat down and put her feet up on the table, as if they were having a friendly conversation.

"So, where's Colonel Sheppard?" she asked coolly, crossing her arms over her chest.

The four stayed silent, looking at each other.

"Oh, I know, he's probably outside waiting for the opportune moment to come in, guns blazing. Am I right?" Halina's voice almost sounded excited.

"He's not here." Rodney said annoyed.

"Well no need to get rude." Halina said taking her feet off the table. "But really, where is he?"

"Rodney is telling the truth." Teyla said calmly.

"Please, you want me to believe he's not here? Why would the leader of your team not go on a mission with you?"

"Maybe he had reasons to be back on Atlantis. Ever think of that?" Rodney said.

Teyla gave him a warning look. Lydia and Ronon just watched Halina as she leaned forward, folding her hands on the table.

"You really need to work on you attitude, Dr. McKay. And you're not a very good liar."

"Oh my God," Lydia said standing up, "he is telling the truth, you idiot."

Klaus quickly walked over and hit Lydia in the face. She fell to the ground, barely having time to catch herself. Instantly, a throbbing pain began in her nose, joining the migraine that she had all day. Bright red blood started to flow from her nose, dripping onto the floor.

"Hey!" Ronon jumped up, about to go over the table at Klaus. Four men grabbed him before he could and struggled to control him.

Teyla help Lydia up and back into her chair. She grabbed a rag off the bar and held it under Lydia's nose. Lydia flinched from the pressure of the rag, her nose already turning black and blue. She took steady breathes, trying to calm herself down.

"You need to work on that temper, Colonel. You could have just told me nicely." Halina said.

It took everything in Lydia to sit there quietly when she really want to jump across the table and strangle the woman. She took the rag from Teyla's hand, holding it up herself. Ronon was returned to his chair, his hands now bound in rope.

"So, I guess since Sheppard isn't here, you four will have to do."

She signaled to her soldiers, all of them coming over and forcing the four of them up. They tied rope around Lydia, Rodney and Teyla's wrists and then walked them out of the tavern and through the streets. The streets were deserted; every so often someone would dare to look out from their curtains.

With her arms behind her back, Lydia had nothing to stop the bleeding from her nose. Blood flowed freely down her chin and onto her chest. You could barely make out the blood on her black shirt. Rodney tripped on a loose stone in the street. He fell to the ground, landing on his shoulder. One of the men harshly pulled him up by that arm, causing Rodney to howl in pain.

"Let's go!" He said pushing Rodney on.

"What are you going to do with us?" Ronon asked.

"I'm taking you back to our planet. There, you will be locked up and we will message Atlantis with an ultimatum. Sheppard will either have to give over his life for all of yours or will have to watch you all die." Halina said with a smirk.

"How do you even know Atlantis's address?" Teyla asked.

"That was another thing these people gave to us." She said gesturing towards a couple peering out their window.

The Genii pretty much paraded them through the town, with Halina in the front. After a few miles of walking, they made it to the forest that held the stargate. The trees made everything much darker and creepier in the night. Halina ordered one her men to dial out once they had made it to the stargate.

A bird cawed in the night, even causing Halina to jump. The man who was dialing stopped halfway through and looked around.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

"Yes, it was just a bird. Keep dialing." Halina said.

"No, not that. I heard something else, like a rustling."

They stood silently, listening to the forest. A light rustling met their ears. All of the Genii held up their guns and nervously looked around. Lydia, Ronon, Teyla and Rodney grouped together with their back to each other, each of them facing a different direction. The rustling got louder. The forest seemed more dangerous and ominous. Lydia's heart felt like it was beating out of her chest.

The rustling stop. Quiet. One woman slowly approached the direction where the rustling was coming from. Her gun was raised to his eye level, her body crouched over. She made it to the edge of the stargate's clearing, her foot entering the bush. She disappeared with a shout, being dragged into the bushes.

Two dozen men and women came walking out of the bushes. Their weapons were raised at the Genii. Lunete walked out behind them, dragging out the Genii woman who had disappeared moments before.

"Change of plans, Halina." Lunete said pointing a pistol at Halina's head.

"What are you doing?" Halina asked. "We had a deal."

"Well we regret our deal with you and are backing out. I just hope the Lanteans can forgive us."

"You really think I'm going to let this happen?"

"Yes, seeing as we out number you." Lunete said. "Untie the four of them and then leave our planet."

Halina looked around at the men and women surrounding her. She slowly lowered her gun, her people following suit.

"Jensen, untie the Lanteans. Meri, dial the ring."

One of the men started cutting the ropes around their wrists off. Lydia massaged her wrists before quickly putting her hand up to her nose. Rodney rubbed his shoulder, wincing. The gate activated behind them, illuminating the black forest. Ronon grabbed Jensen the minute his hands were free. He shoved the man against a tree, his hands around Jensen's neck.

"Ronon!" Lydia shouted.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill him!" Ronon said without looking away from the man.

"This is why."

Halina had grabbed Teyla before she had been cut loose. She had a knife to Teyla's neck, walking backwards with her towards the stargate.

"Let him go or I'll slice her throat."

Ronon slowly loosened his grip around the man's throat, letting him slid to the ground.

"I'd like you to know something, Barkova. That deal I made with the queen, it was the address of Atlantis. They could be attacking you any day now."

"First of all, Halina, you're not giving me new information. We've known that they know where we are for days. Second, if you really think they're going to leave you alone forever, you're out of your mind." Lydia said.

"Well, no matter what happens, I'll be happy as long as I get John Sheppard. This is where Teyla comes in." Halina said pulling Teyla closer to the open gate.

Teyla finally loosened the ropes around hands and pulled her hands free. She pulled Halina over her shoulder, slamming her back on the ground. Halina laid there stunned. Teyla pulled her up and shoved her though the stargate. The other Genii watched her silently, scared stiff.

"Leave!" Ronon's gruff voiced boomed through the forest.

They all squabbled through the gate, Klaus leading them through. Lunete and her people lowered their weapons as the stargate closed.

"I hope you can forgive us." Lunete said approaching Lydia.

"Well, saving our loves goes a long way. I think we can seriously talk about an alliance again."

-…-

"Well, look who's joined the club." John said.

He sat down on the bed across from Lydia's in the infirmary. The bleeding had stopped, but her nose and eyes had turned a dark black and blue. The end of her nose was slightly turned to the side.

"The club?" she asked.

"The 'not going on any missions for a while' club."

"Great," she said "I had just left and now I'm back."

"It's just a bruise, Dr. McKay." Dr. Rossi said coming up to the two with Rodney close behind.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Nothing broken or sprained, just bruised."

"But - "

"Goodbye, McKay." John, Lydia and Dr. Rossi all said at once. The doctor turned and left to find Jennifer.

"So, how's my patient?" Rossi asked Lydia as he started to bandage her nose.

"I have a headache and my nose is a little tender, but other than that I'm fine."

"Well, your nose is broken. It'll take about two to three weeks to heal and then I want you to take one more week after that just to make sure."

"Ok," Lydia sighed, "but only since it is doctor's orders."

"All right," Rossi said finishing the bandaging, "go about your daily life, just be careful different activities."

"Come on, Barkova," John said hopping off the bed, "I'll teach you how to feed yourself without hurting yourself."

* * *

**A/N: I'm so exhausted (it's 1 am here), but I'm glad I got this done for you guys :)  
Love you all!**

**"the deal that i'm making" - Running Up that Hill by Placebo**


	10. in another life

"Look at you go!" Lydia said laughing.

Little Mailk giggled at the Colonel as he crawled across the mess hall floor. Lydia walked in front of him, walking backwards so she could watch him. The bruising and bandage were gone from her nose, but her nose was still tender. Just as the John's arm was out of the sling, but he still had to be gentle with his arm and shoulder. Both still had a one more week to go until they could be cleared for missions.

"You're a little speedster, aren't you?" Lydia said in a baby voice.

"Why are you talking like this?" John asked in the same baby voice.

"Oh," Lydia straightened up and went back to her normal voice, "I guess that's just the way I talk to a baby."

Lydia had stopped walking, making Malik stop as well. He sat down on the floor and began to suck on his thumb.

"No way, little man," John said picking him up with his newly healed arm and pulling his thumb out of his mouth, "no sucking your thumb."

"Teyla said it was fine." Lydia said. "Torren did the same thing and he grew out of it."

"Where is Teyla?"

"Seeing as we won't be on missions for another week, she and Kanaan wanted some time alone. They left for new Athos this morning and won't be back until tomorrow."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"Ronon was supposed to tell you."

"Well, he didn't," John said.

"He was probably having too much fun with Torren." Lydia said pointing behind her.

Ronon sat at a table with Torren, the two playing with Torren's wooden toys. A few were in the shape of humans. There was also a stargate, Wraith dart, and one that looked like a puddle jumper. Torren had two people in his hands that seemed to be running around the table. Ronon had the dart and puddle jumper making them chase and shoot each other. The dart flew into the stargate, causing Ronon to pretend there was a huge explosion. He threw his hands in the air and made a 'boom' noise, accidently hitting some toys onto the floor. Torren began to laugh, his smile taking up most of his face. Ronon laughed along with him, his deep laugh booming through the mess hall.

"Why doesn't this seem like the first time Ronon's played with Torren?" John laughed.

"Teyla said they became very close while Atlantis was gone." Lydia said.

Malik had taken his thumb out of his mouth and now was chewing on his fist.

"Come on, Malik," Lydia said taking the baby from John, "I think it's time for lunch."

-…-

"They'll be fine."

"I don't know, Barkova," John said, "I trust Ronon with my life, but maybe not with kids."

"He'll be fine, the boys are napping."

"So was he when we left."

"Just trust him."

"Ok, I will, but I blame you if something happens."

Lydia shook her head at him as they walked up the stairs from the gate to the control room. The stargate activated behind them. The blue horizon shining behind the shield. Mr. Woolsey came out of his office, meeting the two Colonels next to Chuck.

"It's Major Lorne's IDC, sir."

"He's two hours early," Woolsey said, "lower the shield."

Four people came running through the stargate, Wraith fire coming in after them.

"Raise the shield!" John said as he and Lydia ran down the steps.

Chuck raised the shield, the sound of Wraith warriors hitting it.

"Major, Captain, what the Hell happened out there?" Lydia asked Lorne and Mercer.

Lorne's head snapped in her direction, eye's widening in surprise.

"Oh my God," he said, "Colonel Barkova, you have to see this."

"What do I have to see?" Lydia asked confused.

"What is it Lorne?" Another voice asked behind him.

A brunette woman walked out from behind them and came face to face with Barkova. Only she was Barkova, too. The two women's mouths dropped. Both said the same thing in Russian. John didn't understand what they said, but he could tell they were surprised.

"Rodney," the brunette Lydia said turning around, "I thought you said you turned that device off."

Rodney make made his way up to the group. This Rodney McKay seemed like the other but this one had glasses perched on his nose.

"I thought I did, but I guess it likes to trick people." He said sarcastically.

"Don't give me sarcasm, Rodney." The brunette said pointing a finger at him.

"Look, we were in the middle of a fire fight with the Wraith, what do you want from me?"

"I would have liked to be in our own reality!"

"John," Rodney said racing down the steps, "you'll never believe what I found!"

He stopped next to John and Lydia, scanning over the team in front of him.

"Oh, no, not again." He said, looking at the other McKay. "Please tell me you don't go by Rod."

"No, what idiot would go by the name Rod?" The other McKay said looking disgusted.

"Oh, thank God."

-…-

"They're all who they say they are." Jennifer said walking out of the infirmary.

""They're human? No replicator parts?" John asked.

"All human, they're just from a different reality."

"Now we just have to figure out a way to get them home." Rodney said.

"We'll that should be easy for you, McKay. Especially since there are two of you." Lydia said.

"Yeah, two heads are better than one." John said.

Rodney gave them a look and went to find the other Rodney. Lorne and Mercer came down the hall to the two Colonels.

"Sir, Ma'am" Lorne said, "what's going on? Why did you call us down here?"

"There's something you two need to see."

Lydia and John led them into the infirmary where their doubles were sitting. The doubles stood up from their beds and stood across from their look-alikes.

"Alternate reality?" Lorne asked Sheppard, looking away from his double.

"Yes." The other Lorne answered.

"This is so weird." Mercer said.

"Not as weird as seeing myself with short hair." The other Mercer said who was sporting a long ponytail.

"I haven't had long hair since I was sixteen."

"Really? I've never even entertained the thought of cutting my hair that short."

"Why don't you all get to know each other while the two Rodneys figure out a way to get you al home?"

-…-

"So, do you dye your hair blonde?" The brunette asked, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"No, this is my natural color." Lydia said.

"Really? That just seems so weird. In my reality, mom's the only blonde in the family."

"Verusha, mom, and I are all blondes here."

"Verusha, too? That's so weird to think about."

Lydia took a sip of her water as her counterpart took another bite. Lydia looked at her hands and almost spit her water everywhere.

"You're married?" She asked, pulling the woman's left hand closer to her face. Around her ring finger was a thin silver band.

"Yeah, I'm guessing you're not."

"No, I'm not." Lydia said. "Please don't tell me you're married to Nick."

"That jackass reporter? No, I broke up with him before I went to Atlantis."

"Before you went to Atlantis? You went on the original mission?"

"Yeah, been their ever since. You didn't?"

"No, I was supposed to, but then some personal things happened and I missed the mission. I did become leader of SG-2 on Earth, which was pretty cool. I was reassigned here four months ago and co-lead with Sheppard."

"Co-lead? In my reality, Colonel Sheppard is military commander and I'm second in command."

"He's a full bird Colonel?"

"Yeah."

"Well, don't tell my Sheppard that. The damn IOA practically made the US Air Force not promote him. They said that either he would stay Lt. Colonel or he would become a Colonel but be forced out of Atlantis."

"So, the IOA is full of assholes here, too."

"Yep." Lydia said. "So, tell me who you're married to. What's he like? Do I know him?"

"Well," the brunette said smiling, "he's a military man. He's tall and very handsome. So sweet and romantic. We've been together for about three and a half years and have been married for almost a year."

"He sounds amazing."

"Yeah, but he can also be a huge pain in the ass and knows how to push my buttons." She said laughing.

The two women laughed together, the sound filling the mess hall.

-…-

"How did you get here?" Rodney asked his doppelganger.

"We were on a mission and found an Ancient device connected to the gate. I didn't disconnect it, not knowing what it would do if I did. After hacking the device, I found that it was designed to make black holes for the next wormhole dialed to go through –"

"In turn, making the wormhole go to an alternate reality." Rodney interrupted.

"Correct." McKay said cleaning off his glasses. "Next thing I knew, a hive ship was above us and darts were raining down. Lydia, Mercer and Lorne were firing back while shouting at me to dial back to Atlantis. I thought I had turned off the device, but obviously I didn't."

"Why would they make a device that does this?"

"Who knows? Why would they make the Quantum Mirror or that device that makes volcanos?"

"Device that makes volcanos?"

"Oh, I guess you haven't found that yet." McKay said nervously readjusting his glasses.

"Anyway, we need to figure out a way to get you home."

The two men worked for almost a half an hour. Fighting over the computer and who was right. Rodney told himself to be a little nicer to Zelenka since he was a lot more stubborn than he thought he was. They sat silently for a few minutes. Rodney looked over the man; they were exactly the same except for the glasses. Rodney stopped at his hand and found the indentation of a ring on his finger but no ring.

"Are you married?" he asked.

"I used to be, but Katie and I separated a few months ago." McKay said without looking up from the computer.

"Katie Brown?"

"Yes, are you two together?"

"We were a few years ago, but things didn't work out. What happened?"

"I paid too much attention to my work." He said looking up.

Rodney took a mental note in his head, wanting to make sure that never happened between Jennifer and him. The two men sat silently for minutes, only paying attention to their computers.

"We just need something to help direct the wormhole through the same black hole." McKay said taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh my God," Rodney said, "that's it. We just have to tweak it a little."

-…-

"Unscheduled off world activation." Chuck said as the gate activated and the shield went up.

John, Woolsey and the two Lydias joined Chuck.

"I'm getting an IDC."

"Whose is it?" John asked

"I don't know." Chuck said. "It's enough numbers for an IDC, but I don't recognize it."

"I do," alternate Lydia said, "you have to lower the shield."

"How do I know you telling the truth? I could be letting anyone or anything in." Woolsey said. "Or if they are from your reality, they might get stuck here too."

"I am telling the truth! Please, you have to let them through." Barkova said.

"I say we do it. If they walk into that shield, they're dead." Lydia said.

Woolsey looked between the two and John and told Chuck to lower the shield. A few moments later, three people came through the gate. The brunette went racing down the steps with Woolsey, John and Lydia behind her. The three people looked around Atlantis.

"I knew this was going to happen." Woolsey said looking at an alternate Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon.

"Lydia, what happened?" the alternate John asked the brunette.

"Rodney found an alternate reality device and just had to mess with, accidently sending us here. Why are you here?"

"When you didn't return we went to find you." Teyla said.

"I guess the device is still on, because we dialed home and ended up here." The alternate John said.

-…-

The two Ronons were practically staring each other down. The alternate Ronon still had his dreadlocks and had a more shotgun-like weapon. The alternate Teyla sat on her bed talking to Jennifer. Teyla and Kanaan were still on New Athos, but Chuck had contacted them about the situation. John waited for his counterpart to put his jacket back on and led him down the hallway.

"So, what's Mr. Woolsey doing here?" The alternate Sheppard asked.

"He's the leader of Atlantis."

"Really? Dr. Elizabeth Weir is our leader."

"She was our original leader, but she passed away a few years ago."

"I'm sorry," Sheppard said. "Are you military leader?

"Co-leader with Barkova. Aren't you?"

"No, Lydia's my second. I'm a Colonel and she's a Lt. Colonel."

"You're a full bird Colonel? IOA screwed me out of that one."

"Oh, wow, it's weird how many things can be different."

"Yeah, how's your fight with the Wraith going?" John asked.

"I guess it could be going worse. There's a Wraith queen trying to align all of the Wraith together. She calls herself the Queen Mother."

"She already rules all of the Wraith here. Although, her rule isn't exactly stable yet. Is Todd helping you?"

"Todd?"

"He's a Wraith commander that helps us from time to time. He's tall and has a star like mark around his left eye."

"Oh, him. We call him Kevin." Sheppard said. "And I he doesn't help us anymore. We used to be in an alliance, but then he became the Queen Mother's second in command. He gave her all of our secrets. We should have never trusted him and I wouldn't trust him anymore if I were you."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that ever since the last time we saw him."

The two men walked in silence for a few minutes. John looked up and saw the redheaded nurse he liked pass them. Her hips swayed and her long red hair bounced as she walked. He stopped and watched her walk towards the infirmary.

"What are you doing?" His alternate self asked.

"Come on, I know that we're the same person which means you have to think that nurse is hot."

"I'm married." Sheppard said holding up his left hand, a thick silver band around his finger.

"You're married?" John asked. "To Nancy?"

"No, to a woman on Atlantis." Sheppard said. "Do you mean Nancy Bryant? Are you married to her?"

"I used to be, but we got divorced years ago."

"I never married her. I broke up with her when she met another guy. I think his name was Greg. Or was it Grant?"

"Grant Curtis?"

"Yeah, that was him."

"Nancy married him after we got a divorce."

"It's also weird how many things turn out the same."

-…-

"You have twin girls?" Teyla asked.

"Yes, Charin and Tagan. They are full of energy and do nothing but run around." Her counterpart answered.

"That sounds very familiar." Teyla said watching Torren run around the table they were sitting at.

The two Johns, Teylas, Ronons and Lydias sat around a table in the mess hall. They were all talking at once, causing the rest of the people in the mess hall to have to talk over them.

"We've got it!"

The two Rodneys came racing into the mess.

"We know how to get us all home." McKay said pushing up his glasses.

"Then tell us, Rodney." Both Sheppards said at the same time.

"This morning Zelenka and I were searching a lab in a part of the city we've never been to before. We found a sort of energy weapon that looked a lot like an energy weapon the Asgard had back in the Milky Way. Back in 2006, dozens of alternate SG-1s came through the stargate and our SG-1 was able to send them back by using the Asgard energy weapon to skip through a black hole and take each team back to their own reality."

"Now it took some work," the other McKay said, "but we think we were able to make the Ancients' energy weapon to do the same."

"Why would the Ancients and these Asgard have the same weapon?" Ronon asked.

"After the Ancients left Pegasus and returned to the Milky Way, they, the Asgrad, and two other races made an alliance. The weapon here was probably made first and then the Ancients shared the technology with the Asgard."

"What's the chance that this will work?" Barkova asked.

The two Rodney's looked at each other.

"About a ninety-eight percent chance." They said together.

"That's enough for me to say it's a go." The alternate John said.

John and Lydia looked at each other.

"What do you think?" Lydia asked John.

"I think this is our only option."

"So do I, let's do it."

-…-

Some scientists wheeled in the energy weapon as the two Rodney's worked with the gate controls. Each of the duplicates was saying goodbye to each other in front of the stargate.

"I wish there was a way we could contact each other." The brunette Barkova said.

"I do, too," Lydia said, "I want to meet this husband of yours."

The brunette smirked.

"What?" Lydia asked.

"Nothing. But I do have something else to tell you." Barkova said pulling the blonde closer and whispering. "I'm pregnant, but don't say anything because no one else knows."

"That's amazing!"

"Yeah, I just found out a week ago and wanted to go on one more mission before telling everyone and going maternity leave."

"Congratulations, I'm happy for you. You better tell that little one about me someday."

"I will." Barkova said hugging Lydia.

"It was nice to meet you, John."

"You too, John."

The two men shook hands.

"Don't forget what I said about Kevin or Todd or whatever you call him."

"I won't, I'm definitely going to be more cautious about trusting him now."

"And another thing," Sheppard said, "I was womanizer, too, before I married my wife. But I've got to tell you, committed relationships aren't that bad. Especially with the fact of knowing you're going to have sex almost every night. As long as you don't screw up or say the wrong thing."

"I'll remember that."

The stargate activated behind them and the shield went up. The blue wormhole made the room brighter, contrasting with the black night outside. The scientists flicked a switch and the energy weapon fired through the gate for a few minutes. The two Rodney's came down the stairs and joined the rest.

"That should be it." Rodney said when the weapon shut off. "You should be able to go home now."

Everyone said their final goodbyes. The two Teyla's said goodbye, bowing their heads. The Rodneys shook hands, wishing each other good luck in the future. Zoe and her doppelganger hugged. The Lornes laughed at what one of them said and shook hands. The Ronon had a silent goodbye, nodding their heads to each other.

The seven people turned and walked through the stargate. The gate shut behind them and the group dispersed. John and Lydia walked silently down the hall towards their quarters. Most of Atlantis's citizens were sleeping, only the night guards and night owls were up.

"You know what the weirdest part of the other Sheppard was?" John asked.

"What?" Lydia answered.

"He was married."

"How is that weird?"

"I've just never been able to imagine myself getting married again."

"But technically that wasn't you, that was him."

"I know, it's just all confusing." John said. "But another strange thing was that he kept avoiding telling me who he was married to."

"Now that you mention it, the other Lydia was married, too, and also avoided telling me who her husband was."

"You don't think," John paused.

"What?" Lydia asked when John stopped her in the hall.

"You don't think they were married to each other."

Lydia looked at him, thinking of the idea.

"She did say that her husband was a military officer. They also called each other by their first names, even though he was her superior. They were also very concerned over each other."

"We're married in another universe." John said slowly.

Lydia started laughing. John couldn't help but laugh too.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked.

"It just seems so weird to think about." Lydia said. "Us, married."

"It does seem pretty strange." John said. "You're becoming more like a sister to me."

"Yeah, I also don't think you could handle a serious relationship, Captain Kirk." Lydia smirked.

"You've been talking to Rodney too much."

"That and it's obvious that you've got a thing for that nurse. And don't think I didn't see you eyeing up that scientist at lunch yesterday."

John walked Lydia to her room that was only a few steps from his. They laughed and talked the whole way.

* * *

**A/N: Once again, I'm sorry this took a while to come out, school and work are crazy. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon and I promise the next one will be an actual mission again. The next chapter might come out faster if I get a nice amount of reviews :)  
Just a reminder, I have a list of my OCs and their descriptions on my profile page. I don't want anyone to forget who someone is then have to go looking through the story for them.**

**"in another life" The One That Got Away by Katy Perry**


	11. fear that something's always near

"Are you ready for this?" Lydia asked jumping on the balls of her feet.

"I'm done with being cooped up on Atlantis." John said.

The two had finally been cleared to go on missions once again and were acting like excited children. The two had been anxiously waiting for this moment since breakfast. They had gotten dressed half an hour early and had been waiting in front of the gate for a while. Teyla, Ronon and Rodney were just joining them now.

"You two are acting like Torren when I let him stay up an extra hour and play." Teyla laughed.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've been off world?" John said. "You're all lucky I didn't go completely stir crazy. I'm allowed to be excited."

The stargate activated in front of them and Woolsey wished them luck from above.

"Are we ready?" Lydia asked.

"Let's do this." John said putting his sunglasses on.

They walked through the stargate and onto a planet covered with trees. These weren't any normal trees. These trees seemed to be at least 500 feet tall, if not taller. They covered the sky, blocking out the sun. John slowly took off his sunglasses, disappointedly looking up at the trees. A dirt path started at the gate and ran through the forest.

"Well, if there's a path then there must be people."

The path was only wide enough for them to walk single file, the trees growing close to it. There seemed to be no end to the trees, almost as if they covered every inch of the planet. Even the town they found was covered with trees. The only cleared parts were for the streets and buildings.

The town was deserted, not a human in site. Old fall leaves covered the streets, indicating the town had been deserted for years. The buildings were falling apart. Barely any had a door or shudders that weren't rotting.

"What happened to this place?" Ronon asked.

"It was probably the wraith." Rodney said.

"No" Teyla answered, "I have never heard of the Wraith fully culling a population."

"Unless it was the Wraith that made these people get up and leave." John said.

Lydia heard a loud crunch under her boot. She cleared away the leaves and gasped.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't the Wraith." Lydia said.

She picked up a thin, broken bone. The others helped clear away the leaves and revealed a full skeleton hidden in the leaves.

"This skeleton is so small."

"It has to be a child."

"I found another one." Ronon said, kneeling beside a close building.

"There's another one here." Teyla said clearing off a skeleton a few feet from the smaller one.

"What the Hell happened here?" Lydia asked looking around and finding other bones that stuck out of the leaves.

"I'd rather not stick around and find out." Rodney said.

"Don't be such a scaredy cat, Rodney." John said. "This is a perfect mission to come back to, a mystery"

"Is it just me, or is he getting a weird look in his eye?" Lydia asked Teyla.

"He is looking rather excited over dead bodies." Teyla said.

John led them through the town, the group finding a few skeletons here and there. They made it to the edge of the town where a line of bushes separated the town and the deep forest.

"Well, look at that, the trail ends here" Rodney said. "I guess we'll have to go home without figuring out what happened."

"I found tracks." Ronon said on the other side of the bushes. "And it's obvious something's been going through these bushes."

Ronon pointed to a part of the bushes where branches were missing.

"Something?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah, the tracks I found look human, but are larger than usual."

"Well, that's just great." Rodney said.

"Calm down, Rodney. I think we'll be able to take anything that's out here."

"Really? Something that killed everyone in that town?"

"They were simple villagers. We have guns and experience."

"That still doesn't make me feel better."

Ronon tracked the creature that had left the prints. They circled around the town, Ronon found a few other entrance points, and went back towards the stargate. A few strange noises echoed through the forest, causing, Rodney to jump. The day eventually turned to night making the forest even darker than it was before. Lydia crouched down with Ronon, shining the flashlight on her P-90 over some prints.

"They lead into there." Ronon said pointing to a cave.

"You've got to be joking." Rodney said.

"Would you rather stay outside alone, Rodney?" Teyla asked.

"I'll be in the middle."

Ronon and Lydia entered the cave with the others behind them. The cave was extremely dark, quiet and smelled like decomposing flesh. The smell made Lydia almost sick to her stomach. The stench got worse as they ventured farther. A few rats ran between their feet, scurrying into the cave. They turned a corner and found a door with light underneath. Without thinking, Ronon opened the door and ran in, gun raised.

"It's clear."

The four others followed him in. Lydia blinked as her eyes adjusted from pitch black to the bright room. The room was lined with closed stasis pods and a few Wraith computers sat in the middle of the room.

"Oh no," John said.

"What?" Ronon asked.

"Two years ago, Major Teldy's team found a room exactly like this. Dr. Beckett and I came to help investigate and we almost got killed by some of Michael's experiments."

"Michael? As in Wraith hybrid Michael?" Lydia asked.

"Yep."

"Well, according to this, Michael made these creatures a few months before he died." Rodney said typing away at a computer.

"What the Hell are you doing, McKay?" John asked.

"I'm hacking Michael's computers."

"I thought you would've used more caution seeing as the last one was booby trapped to collapse on us."

"We're still alive, aren't we?"

"Just be careful."

"Guys," Ronon said looking around, "where did Teyla and Barkova go?"

The men looked around the empty room in a panic.

"Teyla?"

"Barkova?"

"We're in here, you dummies." Lydia's voice echoes from down a hall that held stasis chambers.

The boys went down the hall, the decomposing stench getting worse. They found the two women hovering over a body.

"We found the source of the smell." Teyla said.

The body lying on the floor looked human but was covered in a hard, blue skin that was almost like a shell. The shell covered the creature's face that covered everything except its mouth, most definitely making it blind. It was at least seven feet tall and broad.

"Is it dead?" Rodney asked.

"I think we'd either be dead or running and shooting if it wasn't." Lydia said sarcastically.

"Speaking of," John said, "why did you two wander off? You could've been killed."

"You know Teyla and I can take care of ourselves. And we were getting tired of you and McKay fighting like an old married couple."

"We do not!" The two men said at the same time.

"There's a large wound on his neck." Teyla said distracting the team.

The neck was orange and soft, the only visibly soft part of the creature. A large chunk was taken out of it.

"It looks like a bite wound." Ronon said. "And the feet look like they made the prints outside."

"If this thing made the prints outside, then what took the bite out of it?"

"Probably another one of the creatures." Lydia said.

"Cannibalism?"

"When they ran out of people in the village, they turned on each other."

"That's not a bad idea."

"I say we get out of here soon." Rodney said. "These creatures were made to be Michael's super soldiers."

"Why would he make super soldiers that are blind?"

"He probably didn't do it on purpose, these might be prototypes. But, even though these creatures are blind, they do have super hearing."

"Alright, I've heard enough." John said. "Let's go."

"What do you mean?" Lydia asked.

"You want to stay on a planet with Wraith hybrid creatures running around?"

"What happened to an adventurous mission back?" Lydia said. "It's also pitch black outside and I don't think anyone remembers the way back to the stargate. I'm not even sure Ronon can lead us back."

Ronon shrugged behind her.

"It'll be safer to stay in here, a lit room, until the morning." Lydia said.

"Who said this is your decision?" John asked.

"And who said it's yours? Don't forget, we're the same rank."

"Fine," John said, "we'll stay here until morning. If anything happens, it's on your head."

"Seriously, Mr. tough guy? You act like you're the only one who can handle himself. I think Rodney could even protect himself if he was put in the position." Lydia said. "Leading is about guiding people, not only taking care of others but taking care of themselves."

"You're going to tell me how to be a leader? I was leader of Atlantis long before you came along."

"Probably only because I never got to go on the original mission. Who knows what would have happened if I was there. The only reason you got to go is because you have the Ancient gene."

"Look, Barkova," John said pointing a finger in her face.

"Wait!" Teyla said getting in the middle of the two. "You both need to calm down. Just breathe for a moment."

Lydia and John stopped and stepped away from each other.

"And you say we fight like an old married couple." Rodney said, getting a glare from both Lydia and John.

"You are not helping, Rodney." Teyla said.

"Where's Ronon?" Lydia asked.

"He went to the mouth of the cave." Teyla said.

"I'll go check on him." Lydia said.

"No," John said, "I'll go."

John walked to the mouth of the cave, his flashlight leading the way. Ronon was kneeling there and looking out into the forest.

"What are you doing out here?" John asked.

"I needed some air."

"What do think about staying?"

"I think I should stay out of it." Ronon said looking at John.

"Yeah, I thought you would say that."

The two men watched the pitch black forest, listening to the various nocturnal animals. A few mice ran in and out of the cave.

"Do you and Barkova have a thing?" Ronon asked.

"What?" John asked. "You can't be serious."

"I don't know. You two have been getting pretty close and then you have that fight in there."

"Look, we're just friends. Can't a man and a woman just be friends? You and Teyla are just friends."

"Yeah, but we've never fought like that before."

"Just because we had a disagreement doesn't mean we're dating. Normal friends fight, too."

"Yeah, ok." Ronon said laughing at his friend.

A rustling in the bushes made both the men jump up and raise their guns.

-…-

Lydia watched John walk out of the lab and towards the mouth of the cave. She looked at Teyla and found her shaking her head.

"Why are you shaking your head?" Lydia asked.

"No reason." Teyla said smiling.

"She thinks you and Sheppard just need to make out already." McKay said while typing away on a computer.

"That is not what I said, Rodney." Teyla said.

"It's basically what you said."

"First of all," Lydia said. "ew, that's gross. Second, make sure you don't accidently open any of those pods. Third, some people say that you and John need to make out and get it over with."

"I have a girlfriend." Rodney said looking up.

"She could just be your beard." Lydia asked.

"His beard?" Teyla asked.

"It's a term used for a woman a gay man dates to hide the fact that he's gay. Basically, she would be a cover-up."

"I am not gay." Rodney said. "And even if I was, I would not go after Sheppard."

"Yeah, I guess you would pick someone more like Jon Stewart." Lydia smirked.

"Where'd you pull that from?" McKay asked.

"Well, that's who you said you'd pick when you were stuck in a mine with Jennifer and Colonel Carter a few years ago. At least, that's what Jennifer said."

"Only if I was forced to." Rodney said making the two women laugh.

"Sure, Rodney, whatever you say."

A few shots echoed through the cave and into the room. Teyla and Lydia immediately ran out with McKay close behind. They found John and Ronon at the mouth of the cave, guns raised to the forest.

"What happened?" Lydia asked.

"Another one of those experiments showed up." Ronon said.

"Did you kill it?" Rodney asked.

"No, it ran away." John said. "But I'm pretty sure I hit its neck since I saw it bleeding."

"Which way did it go?"

"Over that hill." John said pointing to steep drop not far from the mouth of the cave.

Lydia walked out of the cave and shined her flashlight over the hill, finding nothing but blackness. Rodney came over to Lydia, the life-signs detector in hand. Five blue dots were grouped together with another running away from them.

"You definitely scared the thing away." Lydia said watching the dot move.

"I wonder if it's the only other one." Rodney said while pushing buttons on the machine he had, trying to get it to show a bigger area.

"Did anyone check on how many pods were open?" Teyla asked.

Everyone stayed silent. Rodney sighed and rolled his eyes. He went to go back into the cave but tripped on a tree root, making him fall. He tried to grab onto something to stop himself, grabbing onto Lydia's ankle sending them both tumbling over the hill. Rodney landed on the cold, hard ground and Lydia fell on top of him. They both laid there, stung from the impact. The other three shouted their names over the hill. Lydia slowly sat up, making her head spin. The back of her head pounded. She stood up when the forest stopped spinning. Rodney groaned and stood up next her.

"We're fine," Lydia shouted up to the rest.

"As much as we can be fine." Rodney said inspecting himself for scratches with a flashlight.

"We're coming down after you." Teyla shouted.

"No," Lydia said, "Rodney and I are lucky we don't have any broken bones. If you three slide down feet first you'll probably break your ankles."

"Then what should we do?"

"How about we meet in the village in the morning?" Rodney said.

"Do you remember how to get there?" John asked.

"No, but there's a trial down here." Rodney said pointing his flashlight at a dirt path. "It has to lead to the village."

"Ok, that sounds like a good plan. We'll also go into the cave and figure out how many of these things are running around."

"Keep in radio contact." Lydia said.

"Will do."

John, Teyla and Ronon turned back to the cave, leaving Lydia and Rodney alone on the forest. They started down the trail that wove itself through the trees. Lydia looked straight down the path, the flashlight on her P-90 leading the way. The sounds of different creatures in the forest made Rodney watched the forest warily. A loud chirp made him jump.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Rodney asked. "Maybe we should go back and get the others."

"Do you want to be the one to carry Ronon when he breaks his ankle?"

"No, but - "

"Then shut up, McKay."

Rodney shut his mouth and looked around the forest. He ran into the back of Lydia.

"Why'd you stop?" He asked.

"Why weren't you looking?" She asked.

"Because I was looking around the forest."

"Well I didn't feel like stepping on that." Lydia said.

A few feet in front of her was one of the creatures. It laid still on the ground in a pool of its own blood. The blood had been pouring out a bullet wound in its neck. Lydia got closer to the creature and knelt beside it. Rodney didn't move from where she left him.

"It's alright, McKay, it's dead."

"Barkova," John said over the radio as Rodney got closer to the creature.

"What is it, Sheppard?"

"We found eight pods open. So, including the one we found dead, there are seven creatures running around out there."

"Make that six," Lydia said, "we found the one you shot. It's dead."

"Well, be careful out there."

"You, too. Barkova out."

-…-

John clicked off the radio and joined Teyla and Ronon outside the cave.

"Do you think you could get us back to the village?" John asked Ronon.

Ronon looked over the bushes with a flashlight and lightly dragged his fingers over the dirt.

"Yeah," he said, "might take a while, but I'll be able to do it."

Ronon led the three of them through the forest, crawling through the bushes with a flashlight. Teyla and John walked behind him, guns raised and waiting for a creature to attack. Ronon stopped picking up a branch and crunching it in his hand. He looked around.

"Which way, Chewie?"

"This way." Ronon said pointing to the right.

Ronon stood up and began to walk. One of Michael's creatures came out of nowhere, tackling Ronon back to the ground. Ronon held the creature at arm's length. Teyla and John panicked, not being able to find an angle to its neck. Ronon was able to roll the creature so it was lying on its back. He pulled a knife out and sliced the thing's throat, dark blood squirting out.

"That's disgusting." John said.

Another creature came running out of the trees, hearing the struggle. It stopped in the middle of the three of them and listened. John, Teyla, and Ronon stayed deathly still. The creature circled them and then started back into the forest. John slowly walked forward, a branch crunching beneath his feet. The creature came running back towards him. John quickly raised his gun to shot, but thankfully Teyla shot it before John could. The creature fell to the ground dead.

"Thanks for that." John said to Teyla.

"Of course."

"I think it's time we moved on and try to be a little quieter about it."

Ronon led them on, eventually finding the bushes that surrounded the town. They climbed over them and entered the town. The sun could be seen on the horizon, coming through trees. Suddenly, shots rang out from the trees close by.

-…-

Lydia clicked off her radio and the two stepped over the dead creature and began on the path again. They walked on for almost an hour through the forest. Rodney watched the forest, only sticking to the trail by seeing Barkova out of the corner of his eye. Hearing a squeaking noise at his feet, he looked down at a rat running in between his feet. He stumbled, not wanting to step on it, and fell on the ground.

"You've got to be joking." Rodney said pushing himself up. "You could at least help me up, Barkova."

Rodney sat up and looked around, alone in the forest.

"Barkova?" He said in a panic.

Rodney pulled up his P-90, shining the flashlight on it everywhere around him. He was alone. He took a few steps and shouted her name. Fear raced through his body, making his hands shake. He was alone in a forest full of alien creatures.

A hand went around his mouth and pulled him behind a tree. Rodney panicked and pulled at the hand. The hand only strengthened its grip. He looked back at the body behind his and found Barkova. Her finger went to her lips and her eyes looked away. McKay looked were she looked, one of the creatures walking beside them. The creature quickly went to where Rodney had been shouting. The creature stopped when he didn't find what he was looking for and listened. Rodney and Lydia stayed deathly still. The creature walked back towards the two of them, slowly walking past and listening for any noise. He stopped and Lydia slowly put her hand on the handgun strapped to her leg. The creature moved on and disappeared into the trees.

Lydia loosened her grip around Rodney's mouth, both of them sighing in relief. Both of them relaxed and found the way back to the trail.

"I can't believe that just happened." McKay said.

"Yeah, you're welcome by the way." Lydia whispered.

"For what? And why are you whispering?"

"For saving your ass and those things hunt by ear. Your shouting is what brought it to use."

"Fine, you're right." Rodney whispered.

"I never thought I would hear you say that."

"And you'll probably never hear it again."

They walked silently on, the dirt path turning to cobble stone. The sun was starting to rise beyond the trees.

"We must be getting close to the town." McKay whispered.

Lydia stayed silent.

"Barkova, you're a woman," McKay said.

"Last time I checked." Lydia whispered annoyed.

"Well, if you could have a man propose to you any way you wanted, how would it happen?"

"Wait," Lydia stopped, "are you going to propose to Jennifer?"

"I've been thinking about it."

"Well," Lydia said walking again, "if I could have it anyway I wanted, I would have it on Christmas. It would be one of my presents under the tree."

"But that's so corny."

"Christmas is my favorite holiday."

A creature came running out of the forest and tackled Rodney to the ground. McKay had just enough strength to hold the creature up and off him, keeping it from ripping of his face. Lydia kicked the creature off of Rodney and repeatedly shot at its neck. It laid on the ground, blood pouring out its neck.

"Are you ok?" Lydia asked, pulling McKay off the ground.

"Yeah, I think so." Rodney said looking over himself.

A rustling came from down the path. Lydia and Rodney raised their guns, ready for the creature. John, Teyla, and Ronon came running out.

"I almost shot you." Lydia said lowering her gun.

"We heard shots." Ronon said.

"They were from killing that thing." Lydia said pointing to the dead creature.

"We killed two on the way to the village." John said.

"So three are left." Lydia said.

"I'd rather we don't go looking for them and just go home." Rodney said.

"I feel the same." Teyla said.

"I vote we leave." Ronon said.

"I'm fine with that." Lydia said looking at John.

"Let's go home." John said leading them through the village.

They found the path back to the stargate and made their way through the dark forest. All of them were on full alert, raising their guns at every sound. Teyla started dialing the gate as soon as they got to it. The gate opened, the blue shimmering lighting up the forest. Teyla walked towards the gate but was tackled to the ground by a creature. Two other creatures came running out of the forest. Rodney and Lydia shot at one, killing it before it could make it to anyone. The other went for Ronon who was able to push the creature on the ground before it could grab him. Lydia shot it once it went on the ground. John went after the creature holding down Teyla. The creature pushed John away, throwing him on the ground and giving Teyla a chance to grab her knife and slice the thing's throat. She pushed the creature off of her and stood up.

"Let's get out of here before some crazy super monster attacks us."

-…-

"Never again," Lydia said, "if we ever find a planet with skeletons, I'm leaving."

"What? Did they scare you?" John asked.

"Yes, I'm woman enough to say that. Those creatures scared the crap out of me. Are you telling me they didn't scare you?"

John stayed silent, taking a bite of the salisbury steak on his plate.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Lydia said eating a forkful of mashed potatoes.

The two stayed silent for a few minutes. John took a piece of steak on his fork and looked at it intensely.

"What are you doing?" Lydia asked.

"Wishing this was a big, juicy burger instead of the same old Salisbury steak."

"With some bacon and a toasted bun."

"And those onion straw things."

"No," Lydia said, "a big New York style pepperoni pizza".

"With grease dripping down your hand."

"Oh my God," Lydia said dropping her fork, "we need to go to Earth for dinner."

"You know what I could go for?"

"What?"

"A slice of pie."

* * *

**A/N: If any of you are still in high school, I have some advice - don't go to college. Just kidding, haha :). But seriously, I'm either at school, at work or trying to relax/sleep. I barely have time for writing sometimes, but I'm not giving up on this story. I've also got a bit of writer's block, which doesn't help. The only reason I figured out an ending to this chapter is because I'm super hungry, haha :)  
I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. Remember, reviews always help entice me and if anyone has chapter ideas that they would like to see just put them in a review or personal message.**

**"fear that something's always near" - Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden**


	12. the choices in life

Lydia took a sip of her orange juice and sifted through the mail that was delivered to her earlier. Most were stupid memos from the IOA, but she stopped when she found a bright purple envelope. A pair of hands slipped over her eyes. She laughed, feeling the hands and the long fingers.

"What are you doing Teyla?" Lydia laughed.

The hands left her eyes. Ronon and John sat in front of her and Teyla quickly sat herself beside Lydia. A full pie sat on the table on top of her a mail with one lit candle in the middle.

"Happy birthday!"

"Blow out the candles and make a wish." Teyla said excitedly.

Lydia thought for a moment and then blew out the candle. Teyla took out the candle and began to cut the pie into pieces.

"How do you two know about Earth's birthday traditions?" Lydia asked.

"You learn a lot after living on Atlantis for five years." Teyla said.

"Ronon's the reason why we're not allowed to have surprise parties anymore." John said.

"Oh, really?" Lydia said. "And why's that?"

"I stunned Dr. Garrett." Ronon said digging into his slice of pie.

Lydia laughed, eating a forkful of her own slice.

"What kind of pie is this? It's delicious. "

"Strawberry and livenberry, a berry that has a lot of bushes on New Athos." Teyla said.

"This is really good."

"So what did you wish for?" John asked.

"I can't tell you," Lydia said, "it won't come true if I did tell you."

"Aw, come on, you really believe that?"

"Maybe I do. I'll tell you what, if it come true then I'll tell you."

"You can't even give us a clue?" Ronon asked.

"Nope."

"Leave her alone," Teyla said, "she's allowed to have her wish to herself."

"Fine," John asked, "you could at least tell us how old you're turning."

"You know asking a woman's age is rude." Lydia asked.

"Why is that?" Teyla said.

"I don't want people to know how old I am. I'm getting older and don't really want people to know that."

"Getting older is something to celebrate for my people. Wrinkles are symbols of knowledge and strength. They've survived the Wraith all those years. Getting older is something to be proud of."

"Yeah," Ronon said, "my people treated older people with respect. They were always given the highest positions in society."

"Well, when you put it that way," Lydia sighed, "I'm thirty-seven today."

"You look good, Barkova," John said, "not a wrinkle in sight."

"Thanks," Lydia said blushing a bit, "so what is everyone else doing on their day off?"

"Woolsey finally let us get an Xbox 360 to hook up to the movie screen." John said. "Lorne and I are going to break it in with Madden."

"Well, I'm going to go play a real game of real football." Lydia said. "Levine and I organized a soccer game with some others."

"Ronon, Kanaan, the boys and I are going to visit New Athos for the day. We'll be back after dinner."

"Oh, yeah? Are you going to see Lana?" Lydia asked Ronon.

"Probably, why?"

"Just wondering if you have anything romantic planned."

"We're just friends."

"We all see you the way you look when you talk about her." John said. "I didn't even know you made a look like that."

"Speaking of," Lydia said, "where and McKay and Jennifer?"

"They decided to spend the day in bed together," Teyla said, "but they send birthday wishes."

"Well that makes me jealous." Lydia said.

"Hey, if you really want that for your birthday present…" John trailed off then sniggered.

"You're nasty." Lydia said, playfully throwing a napkin at him.

-…-

"Ok, Levine," Lydia said, "You better catch every ball that comes your way."

"You know I can, Lydia." Dean said putting on his gloves. "I've been playing soccer since I was five years old."

"That doesn't mean you've caught every ball from going into the goal."

"Will you just go play offense?"

Lydia waved to him and took her spot on the right side of the makeshift field on the east pier. The ocean lapped at either side of the pier and the hot sun beat on their backs. The smell of the salty water was strong in the air; Lydia could almost taste it on her tongue. The wind was whipping Lydia's ponytail around. The water was bluer than the shirt she was wearing. Lydia loosely tucked her shirt into her shorts, matching everyone else on her team.

"Is everyone ready?" Dr. Rossi shouted.

"Wait, where's Mercer?" Lydia asked. "She's supposed to be on your team."

"Lorne's team got called away on some mission." Rossi said. "Something about a planet they made a trade agreement with is having a bad harvest. Who knows, the point is she's off world and I found a replacement."

"Ok then, let's do this."

The ball was dropped, the red team taking the ball down the pier and shooting it at Levine. He caught it in his chest and instantly kicked it over everyone's heads. The ball traveled down each side of the field dozens of times. Each team scored twice, Lydia getting one for the blue team. No one played nice just because they were playing on the pier. People pushed and hip checked, some skidding on the ground. Everyone was going to have bruises that night.

The breeze from the ocean had played a factor that no one had thought would happen, blowing the ball over the pier and making it hard to control. Lydia had the ball at her feet. She controlled it as well as she could and spotted Captain Rivers making a run towards the red team's goal. She kicked it into the air, sending toward the Captain. The wind caught the ball and sent it towards the left, smacking it right into a man's face. He fell backwards onto the pier, grasping his nose. Everyone gasped and stopped in their tracks.

"I'm so, so sorry." Lydia said racing over and kneeling beside the man.

The man stayed silent, blinking a few times. His hand was still over his nose with a line of blood dripping out of the side.

"Are you ok?" Lydia asked, mentally kicking herself over the stupid question.

"Yeah, just a little stunned." The man said with a thick English accent.

"Come on, I'll help you to the infirmary."

Lydia helped pull the man up, letting him keep his hand on his nose.

"Hey," Rossi said coming over, "where are you to going?"

"His nose is bleeding so I'm taking him to the infirmary."

"But the blue team will be short two people."

"Then give a red team member a blue shirt, not that hard."

-…-

"I'm so, so, so sorry."

"I know, you've said that six times already." The man chuckled.

He held a towel up to his nose and was sitting on a bed in the infirmary. The hot sun was shining through the windows and reflecting off of the shiny surfaces.

"You know," the man said, "you haven't told me your name."

"Lydia Barkova."

"Alfred Pemberton." He said sticking out his free hand.

Lydia shook his hand as a nurse came over.

"You're nose isn't broken." The nurse said smiling and flipping her red hair. "It should stop bleeding soon."

"Thank you." Alfred said getting off of the bed.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" Lydia asked. "I feel awful about hurting you."

"You could walk me to my room; make sure I don't faint from losing so much blood." He said laughing.

"I can do that." Lydia said laughing with him.

They trekked out into the hall, joining the rest of the city on their day off. Most were out of uniform, wearing things like jeans and t-shirts. The two stayed silent for most of the journey, not looking at each other.

"Oh, look at that," Alfred said pulling the towel from his nose, "bleeding's done."

"Well that's good."

"So," Alfred said, "when did you begin playing football?"

"I began when I was a kid. My dad was really into soccer or football or whatever you want to call it." Lydia said, both of them laughing. "What about you?"

"Been playing ever since I could remember. The only way I made it through university for almost a decade without going crazy was by kicking around a ball."

"Almost a decade? You're a doctor then?"

"Yes I am."

"What do you study?"

"Well," Alfred said stopping in front of his room, "how about I tell you over dinner?"

"Dinner?" Lydia said blushing a bit. "Sure, I'd like that."

"Great," he said smiling, "how about her in my room around seven?"

"I'll be there."

-…-

Lydia pulled out the grey skirt that she never actually thought she would use here. She slipped it on along with a v-neck shirt. Weighing a pair of black pumps in one hand and black flats in the other, she chose the flats since Alfred was only a couple of inches taller than her. Her door chimed and she went to answer it, Teyla standing on the other side.

"Look at you." She smiled. "Why are you so dressed up?"

"I might have a date."

"His name's Alfred, he's a scientist. How was New Athos?"

"The same as always, very rainy today." Teyla said. "I just came up to see if you wanted to go watch a movie. They're showing Pretty Woman on the screen and I know it's one of your favorites."

"Thanks, Teyla," Lydia said, "next time, I promise."

"Have fun on your date, you look great."

"Thanks, I will. Have fun eating all the popcorn."

"I definitely will have fun doing that." Teyla laughed.

Lydia walked to Alfred's room and knocked on the door. Alfred opened it wearing a button down shirt and slacks.

"You look amazing." He said.

"Oh, I don't know about that." Lydia said.

"Well, I think you do."

Alfred led her inside his room to a small table. A candle sat in the middle of two plates which were full of food.

"How did you get this all done in a couple of hours?" Lydia asked.

"I had some help." He said pulling out her chair. "I'm friends with one of the cooks and he owed me a favor."

"Good thing he did, because this looks delicious. Better than what they usually serve." Lydia said inspecting her plate.

The two talked for almost two hours, cleaning their plates. They listened to each other and made each other laugh like they've known each other for years.

"So, you study bugs?" Lydia asked. "How did you get into that?"

"I guess it all started when I got an ant farm for my sixth birthday. I've always thought bugs were interesting. They can be some of the most beautiful creatures or the most terrifying or weird."

"Tell me about some alien bugs."

"A few weeks ago we found a bug that looks like a large ladybug. Only it's blue or purple instead of red and likes to eat decaying flesh."

"That's so weird." Lydia said laughing.

"I know, but it is one of the reason I love being an entomologist."

"It's good to love what you do."

"Do you like what you do?" Alfred asked. "Being military leader, I mean."

"I like leading people," she said, "especially against an enemy so evil."

"But you didn't always know the Wraith existed. Why did you join the military?"

"I loved to fly and wanted to do it my whole life. Also, family is very important to me and protecting them in any way possible was huge to me, even if I had to go a galaxy away to do that."

"I can respect that."

"Living on Atlantis is a little weird, if you think about it." Lydia said.

"How?"

"We're all a bunch of single, scientific and military geniuses just living together in another galaxy fighting green, bug-human aliens that suck the life out of you. Sounds like a movie."

"It does," Alfred laughed, "I was actually thinking about how I might never drive a car again."

"I never thought of that! You're right, that's weird to think about-"

"Barkova, I need you in the control room now." John's voice said in her ear.

Lydia sighed, hating the fact that she had to have the radio in her ear at all times.

"I'm sorry, Alfred, can I have a moment?"

Alfred nodded, a confused look on his face. Lydia turned around in her chair.

"What's this about, Sheppard?"

"I'll tell you when you get down here. Hurry."

Lydia turned back to her date and stood up.

"I have to go," she said, Alfred standing up, "something is going on down in the control tower."

"I guess having dates interrupted comes with being a military leader."

"Unfortunately, yes. But, I had a lot of fun and dinner was delicious." She kissed him on the cheek. "We'll have to do it again."

"Goodbye, Lydia."

"Bye."

-…-

"This better be important." Lydia said walking up the steps to the control room.

"It is," John said looking at her, "why are you all dressed up?"

"I was on a date."

"On a date? You didn't say you had a date this morning."

"Because I didn't have a date this morning."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why do you care?" Lydia said. "Can't we just get to this important thing you called me for?"

"Right," John said straightening himself up, "Earlier today Lorne's team went off world. They were supposed to return a couple of hours ago and when they didn't, we tried to contact them dozens of times. We never got any response until a few minutes ago. It was a trap. The Wraith attacked the planet this morning, knowing they were our allies. They sent some Wraith worshippers down to contact us and get us to come to the planet. They want an IDC code."

-…-

Gun and stun fire filled the air. Wraith on one side and Lanteans on the other. The Wraith were at the entrance of the town holding the citizens captive inside and firing their stunners. The Lanteans were in the forest surrounding it firing back. Mercer and Lt. Gibbs were the only part of Lorne's team that had avoided capture and were firing alongside the five Lantean teams.

Lydia sat behind a rock, reloading her P-90 with her back to the enemy fire. Mercer was next to her, firing at the Wraith. Lydia clicked the magazine into place and sat back up. She fired at a Wraith, hitting it in the head. A few stuns went over the top of their heads. Ronon, Teyla and Rodney ran up to the other side of Lydia.

"Did you find another way into the town?" Lydia asked

"Yeah, I found a back way." Ronon said firing at the Wraith. "They didn't see us."

"Where's Sheppard and Major Henry's team?"

"A group of Wraith found us in the forest and they led them away so we could keep going." Teyla said.

"Alright, let's go."

The five of them took off into the forest. Ronon led them around the side of the town. He shuffled through some underbrush into an alleyway that led to the middle of town. The men and women being held captive by the Wraith silently watched the five of them. Mercer took them to the building she saw the Wraith take Lorne and the two others to. Ronon quickly and quietly took out the two guards at the door. They lined up against the wall beside the door, signaling for Teyla and McKay to stay outside. Ronon kicked open the door. Lydia ran in, shooting the Wraith commander about to feed on Lorne. Mercer and Ronon took out the three Wraith warriors in the room.

"Great timing." Lorne said as Lydia cut the ropes binding his hands.

"Let's get out of here." Lydia said giving him a handgun.

They joined Teyla and Rodney outside and went to the entrance of town, standing behind the Wraith. A little over a dozen of Wraith were left. The five of them started firing at the back of the Wraith, avoiding friendly fire. Some Wraith turned to fire back, but it didn't work. The rest were taken out, Lorne shooting the last in the head. The rest of the teams came into the town.

"Major Rodriguez," Lydia said, "go through the town and inform the people the Wraith are gone and make sure no one is hurt."

"Yes, ma'am." The woman said leading the teams through the town.

Major Henry came running into the town from the forest.

"Colonel Barkova, you have to come quick, it's Colonel Sheppard."

Lydia, Rodney, Teyla, and Ronon followed Henry into the forest. About half a mile in, there was John standing with his gun drawn at Todd. Todd stood with his stunner drawn, a confused look on his face compared to John's stern look.

"What are you doing here?" John asked.

"I'm on a mission, sent by the Queen Mother herself." Todd said. "Did you think I was going to stop going on missions? Or stop feeding?"

"No, I knew you would, but I didn't think you would be on a mission trying to get one of our IDC codes."

Todd stayed silent. Lydia slowly walked up beside Sheppard. The man quickly glanced at her, acknowledging her presence, then looked back at the Wraith.

"Sheppard?" Lydia said.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot him, Barkova." John said, almost begging for a reason not to shoot him.

"He gives us information." Lydia sighed, "But we never truly know when he's telling the truth or when he'll turn on us."

"I say you shoot him." Rodney said bluntly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Just do it." Ronon said.

"Teyla?" John asked, not looking away from the Wraith.

"I believe it is your decision, John. You know him the best."

"I agree with Teyla." Lydia said. "You know him the best your also the one pointing a gun at him."

"Great, the one time I want you to have an opinion and you don't have one." John said making Lydia smile.

John wavered for a moment, readjusting his grip on his gun. Lydia watched as his thoughts passed over his face. His brow furrowed and his nostrils flared and then his face relaxed. He took a few deep breaths and licked his lips. Pursing his lips, he shot Todd in the leg a few times. Todd fell to the ground, dropping his stunner. John quickly went over and kicked it away.

"I know you're going to survive this." John said "If I ever see you on a mission like this again, I won't hesitate to put that many bullets in your head."

-…-

_The Jaffa pushed her down onto her knees in front of a golden throne. A man stood with his back to her. He slowly turned reveaing himself to be Ba'al. He smirked down at the woman. He brought his hand to her head, lining up the red jewel of his golden hand device to her forehead. Laughing as it activated, scrambling her brain._

_Ba'al slowly changed. His skin turned green and his grew long and white. The Jaffa around him turned, their skin turning green, their hair long and white, and masks hiding their faces. Their staff weapons disappeared, replaced by stunners. The golden walls turned blue and organic. The hand device slowly disappeared. Ba'al's hand turned green and his fingernails grew long. A slit grew down his palm. He hissed and raised his hand, striking it into the woman's chest._

Lydia woke up screaming. She looked around finding herself in her own bed in the middle of the night. She was covered in a cold sweat and her hands were shaking. Her head pounded from a migraine that hadn't been there when she had fallen asleep. The covers on her bed were now strewn all over the floor.

She stood up, her bare feet touching the cold floor, and walked out of her room. She walked to the mess hall and found one lonely person already sitting at a table. Her heart skipped a beat, thinking it was John, but the blonde hair disagreed to that thought. She got closer to the man and recognized the face.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I couldn't sleep." Alfred said getting up. "I'm guessing you couldn't either."

"No, I couldn't. Nightmares."

"At least you could fall asleep. I was just tossing and turning."

"Why?"

"I guess I was worried about you." He said blushing.

"Worried about me? Why?"

"I knew it had to be something bad if you were being called away on our day off." He said. "And I might like you, you know? I'd love to get to know you more. I really like you a lot. You're a great ,strong woman. But you don't have to go out with me if you don't want to. I mean, who would want to go out with a guy like me? You-"

Lydia kissed him. He was caught by surprise only for a moment, then kissed her back.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Remember, more reviews = faster chapters. And if anyone has chapter ideas that they would like to see just put them in a review or personal message.**


	13. ice feels so nice

"His name is Alfred."

"Alfred? How old is he? Eighty?"

"No, you jerk," Lydia said, "he my age. He's just English."

"Well, that's even worse." John said.

"Shut up."

"Are you two still fighting over her boyfriend?" Rodney asked crossing his arms.

"We're not fighting." The two said together.

Teyla smirked and shook her head. Ronon walked over to the group, adjusting his stunner in his belt. The sun shone through the stained glass window behind the stargate. Chuck dialed the stargate above them, lighting the blue chevrons. The wormhole appeared and glistened in front of the group. They walked through and were rematerialized onto a new planet.

Lydia gasped for breath on the other side, her body surprised by the extreme change in temperature. The blistering cold and snow hit her face and seemed to go straight through her leather jacket. Layers of snow and ice crunched under her feet. It stretched for miles beyond her eyes, an Antarctic wasteland. The sky was dark and full of stars; the sky probably hadn't seen the sun for a couple of months.

"Dial us back, Rodney." John shouted over the storm.

"I'd love to," McKay said, "but there's a layer of ice over the DHD."

"Let me at it." Ronon said pulling out a knife.

"No, no, no!" Rodney shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Chipping off the ice."

"Do you see how much ice is on the thing?" Rodney asked. "It'll take forever to do and you'll probably just damage it anyway."

"Then what do we do?" Teyla asked.

"We'll just have to wait until Atlantis misses us and dials in. We'll ask them to send a puddle jumper."

"How long until then?"

"About four hours." John said.

"Are we even going to be alive by then? My fingers are already turning numb." Teyla said.

"I'm getting some power spikes coming from that way." Rodney said pointing to the left, not looking up from one of his gadgets.

"Well then that's probably our best bet for some sort of shelter." John said. "Let's go."

"You know, we really need to start sending MALPs through the gate before us." Lydia said.

Rodney led, gadget in hand. Lydia could feel the cold seeping through her boot, turning her toes to icicles. The wind thankfully hit her back instead of her face. Teyla's hair whipped around her face, making her push it away every few seconds. John walked behind Rodney and kept his head down, away from the storm. The tips of his ears and his cheeks were beet red from the freezing weather. Ronon was freezing more than any of them with his arms exposed to the snow, but he gritted his teeth and trudged on.

Rodney stopped at the top of a short slope. Below was a small, round building. Snow covered the top of it, but the bottomed was mostly clear. Ronon slide down the slope without a word to the others.

"Ronon," John shouted, "where are you going?"

"I'm cold." He shouted back while walking to the building.

The others slide down behind him. The snowed crunched under their feet and the storm slowed. Ronon was the first to reach a door to the building. He cleared away the little bit of snow that covered it and found no door handle. Instead, there was a handprint etched into the wall. He put his hand over it and nothing happened.

"It's no use." He said to the others once they caught up.

"Move," Rodney said.

McKay shooed Ronon away and put his own hand over the etching. The door slide open.

"It requires the Ancient gene."

The five rushed inside and met warm air that was being filtered into the room. The door closed behind them, leaving them in pitch black darkness. Lights flickered on in the ceiling. The room they were currently in was small. On the walls was a line of hangers, some of them had tan or white long coats hanging from them. A hall ran straight in front of them, lights flicking on down it. Ronon grabbed one of the coats and put it on, trying to warm his arms faster.

"You look great in that, Chewie." John commented on the white coat with tan lining.

"It brings out the color of your eyes really well." Lydia said, both of them laughing.

Rodney pushed past them and into the hall. He turned into the first doorway and gasped. The rest of them joined him. The room was lined with Ancient computers. Rodney was walking around with wide eyes like a kid in a candy store. He sat down in a chair and quickly started typing away.

"Rodney, make sure you don't break anything," John said, "I like being warm and toasty in here."

"Yeah, yeah," Rodney said without looking up, "you all go explore or something, I'll be here finding the answers to the universe."

Lydia rolled her eyes and walked out into the hallway. Ronon pulled off the coat and left it in the room with Rodney. The four of them walked down the hall, finding a few other doorways and keypads on the wall.

"If this is an Ancestral building," Teyla said, "does that not mean there is a ZPM powering this place?"

John and Lydia stopped in their tracks and looked at each other.

"That's probably the source of energy the led McKay here in the first place." Lydia said.

"We can take it when after we get a puddle jumper from Atlantis." John said. "Teyla, you're a genius."

Teyla smiled.

"I found something here." Ronon said from inside a room.

Just inside the doorway laid a jacket, pants and boots. Ronon moved the collar revealing a skull, the rest of the skeleton hidden by the clothing.

"Oh, no," Lydia said, "not again."

"There's another over here." Teyla said on the other side of the room.

This room also held Ancient computers. A long skinny table sat in the middle of the room with chairs around it. Lydia went to Teyla and found the other skeleton just like the other; wrapped in clothing.

"What's this?" John said.

He picked up a leather-bound book and brushed the dust off the top. His thumb traced a few Ancient letters. He flipped through the pages of handwritten notes.

"What does it say?" Ronon asked.

"I don't know, it's in Ancient. It probably belonged to one of them." John said pointing to the two bodies.

"It might say what happened them." Lydia said. "Let's give it to Rodney, he can tell us."

"Well, I want to keep going through the building."

"Then Teyla and I will go take this to Rodney and you and Ronon will keep going."

Lydia took the book out of John's hands and the two women left.

"Are you two not talking anymore?" Ronon asked as they walked down the hall.

"No, we're talking. We just did." John said.

"I know, it was strained though."

"I don't know, it's fine."

The boys walked down the hall in silence. They passed by closed doors and other rooms that were filled with things for experiments. Computers, computers, and more computers. They turned the corner and found two bolted doors and the end of the hallway. John pressed his hand to the first door and quickly recoiled.

"It's freezing." He said.

"What about this one?" Ronon said pointing to the other door which had an etched handprint just like the one outside.

John pressed his hand on it and the door opened. They walked through the door and into the back of a puddle jumper. The jumper was ransacked. Supplies strewn all over the place. Claw marks in the walls. One chair was ripped out of the floor and thrown on its side. The others were clawed apart. The DHD was torn apart.

"Oh, shit," John said looking over the jumper.

A large crashing noise came from behind them in the hall. Metal ripping apart and bolts popping off. Then a loud screech filled the hall.

-…-

"Well, I do know one thing," Rodney said, "this is one of Elior and Adena's labs."

"One of? They had more than one?" Lydia asked.

"Yes and this one is not where they did the experiments for the Wraith disease. Although they did mention it a few times."

"Of course it's not here. What does the computer say about it?"

"The lab that contains it is on forested planet."

"Like almost every other planet in the galaxy." Teyla said.

"Yeah, so that doesn't help. The only other information it tells us that we didn't know before is that the disease only needs to infect one Wraith ship and will then spread to the Wraith and other ships, destroying them from the inside out."

"Well, we found this along with a few dead bodies." Lydia said handing him the book.

"A book?" Rodney asked grabbing it. "The Ancients usually use their technology instead of writing stuff down."

"We mostly use technology but still write things down. It's more personal." Lydia said.

"I think you're right about that personal thing," McKay said flipping through the book, "because this looks like a diary."

"What does it say?" Teyla asked.

"It's the diary of a woman named Hemera who was the sister of Elior. She and a few others went looking for him after he disappeared. They couldn't find him but they stayed to go through his research." Rodney flipped through the pages. "Oh God,"

"What?"

A large crash and a screech came from the other end of the building. Gun fire echoed through the hall. Teyla and Lydia pulled their P-90s off of the table and ran down the hall. Rodney watched for a moment, flustered, and then ran after them. They turned a corner and found a furry, white creature trying to get in a room. John and Ronon fired from inside at the creature. They backed it out into the hall. It went to run down the hall but stopped when it saw the three others. It turned and ran back into the room it came from. The five of them ran in with it and stopped. They watched the creature ran through a huge gash in the wall and into the snowy world. The room was covered in snow and ice. Two more skeletons laid on the floor and were covered in snow.

"No wonder the door was cold as Hell." John said.

"Did you see that thing?" Lydia said. "It looked like a white wolf walking on its hind legs."

"We're also lucky that thing ran away. It killed these two." Rodney said pointing to the two skeletons.

"How do you know?" Ronon asked.

"This diary," Rodney said, "is Elior's sister's diary. She came looking for him. Unfortunately, these things attacked them and ripped open certain parts of the building. They killed these two and messed up some of the rooms, including their puddle jumper which stranded the rest."

"Why didn't the creatures attack the place when Elior and Adena were doing research?"

"They had a shield system they set up around the building. They shut it off every time they left so it didn't waste power and because the creatures don't attack when they can't smell prey." Rodney explained. "Hemera figured this out after they got the creatures out by figuring out the creatures are afraid of loud noises. She turned the shield on and they waited for help that never came."

"The others never came for them?" Teyla asked.

"Never," McKay said, "With the DHD being frozen over and the puddle jumper destroyed, they had no way home. They eventually died of dehydration and starvation."

"That's horrible." Lydia said.

"But the shield wasn't on when we got here." Sheppard said.

"I found that on the computer." Rodney said. "Years after all this happened a failsafe activated when the ZedPM reached a certain point. It turned off the shield and closed and locked all doors that were letting in the cold from the creatures ripping open the walls. Everything was fine until we came along."

"It always is." John said.

"What now?" Ronon asked.

"We wait for Atlantis to contact us and watch out for those wolf creatures."

"How long until they contact us?" Teyla asked.

"Two hours." John said looking at his watch.

"We still haven't found the ZPM yet." Lydia said.

"I'll find it," Rodney said, "there was map on the computer."

-…-

"Are you sure it's this one?"

"Yes, Sheppard."

"I just don't want to open a door that will let in the cold if there's nothing in it." John said.

"Just open it." Rodney said over the radio.

John opened the door, a gust of freezing air coming out into the hall. He and Lydia walked into the snow covered room. A hole that had to be bigger than Ronon was in the wall across from them. A square hub sat in the middle of the room. Two etched handprints were on diagonally corners with the ZPM in the middle.

"We found it, McKay, but it needs two handprints. I need you down here to get it out."

"I'm still researching on the computer and I turned on the shield. We need that ZedPM on until the puddle jumper comes for us."

"Then can we get of here?" Lydia asked. "My hands are turning purple."

John nodded and Lydia turned towards the door. A loud crash came behind her and John shouted. Lydia spun around and found John on the ground with one of the creatures. The white creature screeched. It tried to pin John down. John kicked the creature, momentarily surprising it. This gave him a chance to get a grip on his P-90 and gave enough distance for Lydia to know she wouldn't hit John. The two fired at the creature. It screeched and fell on the floor after a dozen bullet holes were in its body.

"Where the Hell did it come from?" Lydia asked.

"Above me," John said point at the ceiling.

They looked up and found claw marks all over the ceiling.

"Well, that's just great. These things can crawl on the ceilings." Lydia sighed, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah I think so."

Lydia looked at John and her eyes widened.

"You're not fine, look at your arm."

John looked down at his left arm. Scratch marks ran down from shoulder to wrist, blood dripping down.

"Holy shit."

-…-

"Anything new Rodney?" John asked.

"Nothing yet."

The group sat in the computer lab. Teyla was wrapping up John's arm after getting the bleeding to slow down. He had his jacket off, only in a t-shirt. Lydia watched as he tried to stop himself from grimacing in pain. He shivered from only being in a t-shirt causing Teyla to accidently bump into his wound. He swore under his breath and recomposed himself. The muscles on his arm flex as he relaxed. The bandages couldn't hide the strength his arm had.

"Lydia?"

"What?" She asked.

"I asked you when Atlantis was going to dial in about five times." Rodney said.

"Oh,um," she looked at her watch, "about ten minutes if they're on schedule."

"What were you thinking about?" Teyla asked.

"Just things." Lydia said.

"Like?" John asked.

"None of your business."

"She was probably thinking about her man." Teyla laughed.

Lydia blushed and bit her lip. She looked away from the others.

"Looks like Teyla got it right." Ronon laughed.

They thought she was thinking of Alfred. She would never tell them who she was really thinking of, especially since she didn't want to admit it to herself.

"Please tell me you found something else, McKay." Lydia said changing the subject.

"No, most of their experiments her were on those creatures." Rodney said. "Did you know they can crawl on the ceiling?"

"I'm glad you tell us that now." John said sarcastically.

A crackling came over all their radios. Lydia stood up from her chair. A few scrambled words came over the radio.

"Mr. Woolsey?" Lydia asked.

"Colonel Barkova, is that you?" Mr. Woolsey's voice barely came over the radio.

"Yes, sir, it's good to hear your voice." Lydia said. "We're stranded on a frozen planet. The DHD is frozen over. It would be great if you could send a puddle jumper."

The radio sent over static and a few incomprehensible words.

"Can you repeat that?"

"I'll be glad to send one through, Colonel."

-…-

"Thought you could use some warming up," Alfred said, "so I brought you a cup of tea."

"Thank you." Lydia said smiling.

Alfred sat down next to Lydia in the mess hall. It was towards the end of dinner time. Lydia took a sip and was met with sweet, sugary tea.

"It's sweet, just the way I like it. How did you know?"

"I can read minds." Alfred joked.

Lydia laughed.

"Can I join you?"

Lydia looked up at John across from her. Her face fell for a moment. She looked back at Alfred and then at John. Alfred stood up.

"I think Lydia's lost her voice," He said extending his hand, "my name's Alfred."

"Sheppard." John said shaking his hand with his uninjured arm.

The two men sat down. Lydia pursed her lips as the three sat awkwardly.

"So," John said after a bite of his lemon chicken, "Lydia tells me you study bugs."

"I do," Alfred said, "I think they're fascinating."

"They're not so fascinating when one's stuck on your neck and sucking the life out of you."

Both men started laughing. Lydia sighed in relief. She smiled and took another sip of her tea.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it took so long. Life is busy. Reviews are awesome :)**

**"ice feels so nice" - Ice by Kelly Rowland**


	14. over the moon by midnight

"Any idea on why Woolsey called us here?" Sheppard asked while pouring himself some coffee in the conference room.

"If we did, why would we be here?" Rodney asked as Sheppard sat down next to him.

"I don't know, Rodney," John said, "I was just making conversation."

"You couldn't find anything better?"

John sighed and rolled his eyes. He caught Lydia's eye as she laughed at the two of them.

"Shut up, McKay." Ronon said.

"Now, boys, play nice." Lydia said sarcastically.

Teyla watched in amusement, shaking her head. Woolsey entered the room and sat down at the head of the table. He laid his tablet on the table, sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"I'll cut right to the chase," he said, "there are Wraith on Earth."

"Excuse me?" McKay said.

"How are you sure?" Sheppard asked.

"There are reports of a 'life-giving cult.' It's a religious cult that has been in southern California for over a year and a half now. The government contacted former members of the cult and they described the leaders as two green skinned, white haired, tall men. They had slits in their fingers that seemed to take and give life to you, one of the best sensations they've ever felt."

"How did the Wraith get there?" Teyla asked.

"The Air Force is speculating these Wraith were part of the attack on Earth by the ZPM powered hive. Instead of crashing into Area 51, they landed and took up residence when they learned their hive was destroyed."

"Yeah, but why make a cult? Why not just start killing people?" Rodney questioned.

"If they just randomly started killing people they would be easily notice. Might as well lay low and get some humans to worship you." John said.

"But wouldn't they starve?" Lydia asked.

"No," Woolsey said, "another thing the former members said was that senior cult members were eventually killed. They had a ceremony where the whole cult was gathered to watch the Wraith fully feed on senior members The Wraith told them they were sending them to a great afterlife. After that, new senior members were chosen for the next ceremony in a couple months."

"Well, this all just sounds wonderful." John said sarcastically.

"Why are we being told about this?" Ronon asked.

"The NID wants a team from Atlantis to come take them out. I figured you all would like the job."

"I'm not one to state the obvious," Rodney said.

"Since when?" John interjected.

"But," Rodney continued glaring, "since when is it a good idea for our two senior military officers to go to Earth at the same time?"

"They go on missions together all the time, McKay." Ronon said.

"Yes, while that also is a stupid idea, planets in the Pegasus galaxy are just a stargate away. Earth is a three week journey away."

"McKay's right," Lydia said, "I volunteer to stay behind."

"Alright," Woolsey said, "the four of you will go along."

"Actually, I was going to ask to stay in Atlantis as well." Teyla said.

"That's fine with me. You three have a go. You might as well take along the ZPM you found on that artic planet."

"Why would we do that?" Ronon asked.

"One of the conditions of Atlantis's return was that we give Earth the first ZPM we found for their defenses."

"Can't we just tell them it was depleted?" John asked.

"Unfortunately, they already have my report saying you found a working ZPM. So you will be taking it with you."

Woolsey go out of his chair and left the room. The rest slowly got up and out of the room.

"You volunteered to stay here pretty quickly." John said.

"I just thought you wanted to go." Lydia said.

"You have a date with Al, don't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lydia said smiling.

"Sure," John said, not believing her.

"Hey, look at it this way, you three get a boy's day out. It'll be fun."

-…-

John, Rodney, and Ronon got out of a black SUV. The dirt road they were on was surrounded by trees and black tents. A man in a dark suit walked out of a tent and towards the men.

"Agent Barrett, nice to see you again." John said.

"You too, wish it was under better circumstances." Barrett said shaking Sheppard's hand.

"What can you tell us?" Rodney asked as Barrett led them into a tent.

"Their gated community is a few miles up the road, they're using an old polygamist community that was deserted in the 90's. We have two former members that agreed to go back in and be our eyes and ears."

"Why did they leave in the first place?"

"They said they got scared once some people seemed like were becoming brainwashed."

"They were becoming addicted to the Wraith enzyme." McKay said.

"Been there, done that." Ronon said.

"Anyway," Barrett said, "the community is made up of about one hundred people who are led by two Wraith."

"One hundred people? Doesn't anyone have any family worrying about them?" John asked.

"We know that at least a fourth of them have no family to speak of. The police in a few cities around the area have gotten many missing persons that are members. No one has had probable cause to investigate the cult until now."

Barrett led them into another tent. A stretcher sat in the middle with a white sheet over top of it. Malcolm flipped off the top revealing a face.

"His name was Dennis Franklin. His girlfriend reported him missing a few months ago. Then his body was found in the forest a few days ago with this on his chest."

Barrett pulled the sheet down lower to his hips. A wound from a Wraith feeding was on his chest.

"The coroner from Stargate Command found that he had been feed on several times, but his body wasn't strong enough for the enzyme."

"Why was his body in the forest?" McKay asked. "I can't see the Wraith just dumping him there to be found."

"The way we found his body suggests he had escaped and was running away when he died."

"Alright, back to why we're here," John said, "what do you need us to do?"

"I called you in because I needed people who know how the Wraith work." Barrett said covering the body and leading them out of the tent. "The three of you will go into the community and take the Wraith out. The government does want you to capture them alive for study, but I will have your backs if you 'accidently' kill them."

"How are we getting in?" John asked.

"There's a tunnel under the fence in the forest, here." Barrett pointed to a map. "We found Dennis's body near it and it's probably how he escaped. The two members we have inside, Jill and Oliver, will be waiting for you on the other side."

"Alright," John said turning to Ronon and Rodney, "all of us is using stunners. No bullets of any kind. I don't want any innocent victims, even if they're brainwashed to kill us."

-…-

"What's your plan?" McKay asked in the forest.

"Just playing it as we go along." John said

"You don't have a plan?"

"When do our plans ever work?" Ronon asked.

"That doesn't mean we shouldn't have one." McKay said.

"Once we meet up with the two informants and get more information, I'll make a plan. Does that sound good?" Sheppard said.

"Fine."

The three walked on, following the map on Rodney's tablet. Dusk was beginning to fall, an orange sky behind the green trees. The team eventually found the stone fence. It seemed old, moss growing on some parts and others with cracks through it. The only thing that was strange was the barbed wire on top.

"Just over there." Rodney said.

They approached a hole in the dirt that tunneled under the wall.

"I guess I'll go first." Ronon said.

He dug the hole a little wider with his hands. He slide his body under the wall and disappeared.

"It's clear." Ronon's voice said.

"Alright, Rodney, you're next." John said.

"I don't know about this." McKay said"

"Come on," John said, "if Ronon can fit, so can you."

"It's not that. Why am I on a mission like this? This is a more you and Ronon type of mission."

"McKay, what if I need you? What if I need someone to hack us into a system or something?" Sheppard said stroking McKay's ego.

"You really think you'll need me?" McKay asked nervously.

"Of course," John said, "and besides, I can't see you walking all the way back to the camp when it's getting dark."

"You have a point."

McKay struggled under the wall, Ronon even helped pull him out. Sheppard easily slide under and joined them. It seemed like they were back in the forest from the trees that surrounded them. The men walked out a few feet and could then see the back of houses. A rustling in the bushes caused the three to raise their guns. A man and a woman appeared.

"Don't shoot," the man said putting up his arms.

"Are you Oliver and Jill?" John asked.

"Yes we are." Jill said.

The boys lowered their stunners.

"Take these," Jill said handing them robes that looked like the ones the two of them were wearing, "wear them over your clothes. They'll help you get close to the leaders."

The three of them slipped the robe over their clothing and followed the couple out into the community. Others walked around in the same green robes. A few had black tattoos on their face like the Wraith.

"Where is everyone going?" Rodney asked.

"They are going to have supper and then first sleep before midnight prayer." Oliver explained.

"Midnight prayer?" Ronon asked.

"The leaders say the moon is the source of their power and it's most powerful at midnight. We have midnight prayer every night. The 'heaven ceremony' is done at midnight." Jill said.

"During the midnight prayer is when the community is closest to the leaders. Sometimes afterwards, current members privately bring forward new members of the community. We figured this was the easiest way to get you close to them privately."

"That sounds perfect," John said, "what do we do while we wait?"

"I figured you all would be hungry, so I prepared dinner for us." Jill said leading them into their small home.

"What's for dinner?" Ronon asked.

"Garlic lemon chicken."

"Did someone say lemon?" Rodney asked.

-…-

The community left their homes and gathered together in the center of the community at exactly midnight. Everyone's hoods were up around their faces.

"Why are you doing this?" John asked as they waited.

"Doing what?" Oliver asked.

"You escaped, but you came back in to help us."

"Our brother's still in here." Jill said. "He became a member before the two of us and was already brainwashed when we realized what was going on."

"Well, thanks for helping us." John said.

"Thank you for wanting to help these people."

The Wraith exited the house the people were gathered around. Without a word, the community circled around them. All of the people knelt down and Wraith raised their arms into the air. Everyone started to hum. The Wraith walked through the crowd, pulling a few into the center. One stopped in front of the boys. He stood there for a moment and then chose a woman from behind them. They gathered a dozen people in front of them and pulled off their hoods. Each Wraith took one person and started to feed on them. Ronon tried to jump up but John pulled him back down.

"What are you doing?" Ronon asked.

"We can't give ourselves away," John whispered back, "we're three against one hundred."

"But they're killing them."

"No," Oliver whispered, "watch."

The Wraith feed, bringing the people the brink of death. Then, they slowly stated giving their life back. It took the two Wraith about an hour to go through the dozen people. When they were finished, the people dispersed back into the street. As the crowd thinned, John spotted to men with stunners strapped over their robes.

"I thought you said this would be private." John said.

"It usually is," Jill said, "but they know more people are escaping the community and that they might go to the police so they would need protection."

"Alright, everyone stay calm and wait for my signal."

Oliver and Jill led them to the presence of the Wraith. The two lowered their hoods and bowed their heads.

"We bring new members of the community, masters."

One of the Wraith walked over to the three. He pulled off John's hood and then Rodney's without a word. He put his hands on Ronon's and slowly revealed the man's face. The Wraith backed away, recognition written on his face. He raised his hand to Ronon, about to speak. Ronon quickly tackled the Wraith. John pulled out his stunner and hit the two guards before they knew what was happening. They collapsed on the ground. Ronon pulled out his gun and stunned the Wraith he had tackled. The other Wraith took a stunner from one of the collapsed guards and pointed it at Rodney's head. John pointed his stunner at that Wriath's head.

"Drop it," John said, "there are three of us and one of you."

"But I have this." The wraith said.

He pulled a ball out of his pocket.

"You have a bomb?" McKay asked.

"Yes," the Wraith said, "and it'll destroy all of us, including your team in tents down the road."

John inhaled and pursed his lips.

"Did you really think we didn't know you weren't here?"

"Maybe," John said. The Wraith smirked.

"Let me go or we all die."

John tightened his grip around the stunner. His eyes shifted to Ronon and then back to the Wraith.

"Fine, go."

The Wraith lowered his gun and went to leave. Instead he raised it again and stunned Rodney to the ground. He went to shoot John. Ronon raised his gun and quickly shot the Wraith. John quickly ran to Rodney. After making sure the man was just unconscious, he turned his attention to Ronon.

"Did you kill it?" John asked.

"Yeah," Ronon said, "I set the gun to kill seconds before."

"At least we have one alive." John said. "Come on, let's get out of here before some alarm goes off or something."

-…-

Rodney held an ice pack to his head that had smacked off the ground. Ronon scared away the doctor that was trying to check him.

"What happens now?" John asked Agent Barrett.

"Now we make this community a temporary hospital. Doctors will be sent in along with a few military personnel to keep order. All of those people are going to have a hard few weeks ahead of them from the withdrawal. The government's still deciding on a cover story. They're probably going to decide that the Wraith's appearance was a hallucination from a drug."

"Speaking of the Wraith, what's going to happen to him?"

"They're both actually going to Area 51 for study. The dead one's body is going to be studied inside out."

"I guess that's a plus," Rodney said, "I know they've been complaining since Todd left."

"Can we go home now?" Ronon asked gruffly.

"Yeah," John said, "let's get the eighteen day journey over with."

* * *

A/N: Hope you all like the chapter!

"over the moon by midnight" - Midnight by Red Hot Chili Peppers


	15. destined to explode

"I don't think there's any way to trick them together." Lorne said.

"Are they even technically allowed to be together?" Mercer asked.

"I'm not sure. But what the IOA doesn't know won't hurt them."

"We also have to remember that she's going out with someone else, sir."

"Yeah, that's right." Lorne sighed. "We'll have to think about it more when he gets back from Earth in a couple of days."

Lorne's team entered a village. The villagers bustled with daily life. The team walked through the people, being greeted by some, and into the marketplace. The square was extremely loud from the shopkeepers shouting for attention. A few tried to stop them, but Lorne pushed them away. A black-haired woman pushed her way out of the crowd and smiled at the team.

"Major Lorne, it is good to see you."

"Lunete, how are you?" Lorne asked.

"Fine. I am guessing you are here to check up on us."

"Yes, how are the medicines we gave you working?"

"Very well," she said, "most are better and back to their daily lives."

"Have the Genii tried to contact you?" Zoe asked.

"A few times. They've threatened us directly and also some of our allies."

"Well, we're doing everything we can about that." Lorne said.

"That's all that we ask." Lunete smiled.

The team and Lunete slowly walked through the marketplace. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on everyone's backs. The planets springtime was in full swing. Birds chirped and soared through the air. The wind whipped around different pollens, making Lorne's eyes itchy. He absent mindedly rubbed his eye and made it worse.

A shout came from across the marketplace. A man came pushing his way through the crowd. He stopped in front of Lunete and collapsed on his knees. He wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

"Lunete," he said, "there's a strange object in the tavern."

"What?" Lunete asked. "Where did it come from?"

"I am not sure. We just found it behind the bar."

Lunete took off running into the crowd, pushing people aside. Lorne and his team tried to stay close behind. People shouted and yelled as they ran through them. Lorne took a sharp turn into the tavern and found Lunete bent over something behind the bar. She stood up revealing a long, silver tube with a block of C-4 strapped to it.

"Oh my God," Mercer said, "it's a bomb."

"Corporal, dial the gate back to Atlantis." Lorne shouted and the man sprinted away. "Lunete, we need to get as many as your people away from the village as we can. Tell them to run to the gate and go through to Atlantis. We don't know when this thing is going to go off."

"You heard him," Lunete shouted at her people in the tavern, "let's go!"

Everyone ran out of the building. Mercer shouted the instructions to people, trying to keep calm. She tried to keep everyone in an orderly fashion but the inevitable panic set in. Some people started to push through the streets. One man was pushed down in front of Zoe. She stopped and went to help him up. She looked at the clothing under his jacket and gasped. The man panicked as she pulled out her handgun. In a flip of a switch, the village exploded in a fury.

-…-

"I found Major Lorne!" Teyla shouted.

The moon and stars shown in the sky. Teyla scanned her flashlight over the Major's body in the darkness. She put her fingers on his neck and found his pulse under his chin.

"He's alive."

"Thank God," Lydia said walking over. "I need a med team over here!"

A group rushed over and checked Lorne's body and put him on a stretcher. Teyla followed them towards the gate. Lydia stood in the middle of what used to be the village. People scrambled around her. They found the living and counted the dead. She flashed her light around the rubble.

"Where are you, Zoe?" She asked herself.

Rubble crunched under her feet. She walked past Dr. Rossi zipping up a body bag. She walked by slowly, watching as the body was carried away. She stumbled, tripping over something. She looked down at a black boot sticking up from some rubble. Lydia's heart raced as she looked down at the face of her friend. She immediately went for her pulse and found it.

"I need help!" Lydia shouted, trying to push away some rubble.

Teyla and some others came running over. They removed the rubble from Zoe's leg and Jennifer immediately went to work inspecting the woman. After stabilizing her leg in case it was broken, she and the med team carried her away on a stretcher. Lydia sighed and looked up at the moon.

"Lydia," Teyla said a few feet away, "look at this."

Lydia approached Teyla and a few others as they cleared away some rubble revealing a man. Lydia crouched down and found no pulse. She pulled open his brown jacket and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Why would a Genii soldier be in the village?" Lydia asked.

"He is probably the bomber?" Teyla said.

"I agree." Lydia said.

She checked his body. A gun was inside his jacket and the C-4 switch in his hand.

"Bingo." Lydia said. "I want his body back to Atlantis. Make him the first body to be checked by the coroner."

The men nodded at her command and readied the body for transport. Teyla and Lydia journeyed farther into the village. Bodies were scattered on the streets. They became more and more unrecognizable as they got closer to what used to be the marketplace. Lanteans recovered each body they could, wanting to give each of them a burial.

Zelenka came bounding over some rubble towards the two women. He stumbled, almost dropping the device in his hands.

"Zelenka," Lydia said, "were you able to find any parts of the bomb?"

"The science team is still searching, but we have a problem." He said.

"You've got to be joking." Lydia sighed and rubbed her forehead. "What is it?"

"Radiation levels are rising."

"Are we going to get sick?" Teyla asked.

"No, the levels right now are too low. But they are steadily rising. In an hour we will be in big trouble."

"Alright, we need to leave. Gather your science team and get them to evacuate immediately."

Zelenka ran off in the other direction.

"Teyla, I need you to get people to stop searching. Tell them it's time to leave, my orders."

-…-

"There are forty-seven patients in the infirmary right now, including Major Lorne and Captain Mercer." Jennifer said to Lydia and Woolsey.

"What about the rest of Lorne's team?" Woolsey asked.

"Two were found dead and we weren't able to find Lt. Stark's body in time." Lydia said.

"Alright," Woolsey rubbed his temples, "thank you, Dr. Keller."

Jennifer went back to her patients. Woolsey and Lydia walked out of the room and into the halls.

"Any idea who the bomber was?" Woolsey asked.

"We did find a man in a Genii uniform and Genii gun. The coroner wasn't able to find anything new about him."

"Assuming Halina sent him, why would she want the village bombed?"

"This was the village that was supposed to help them get to us, but changed their minds at the last second."

"Do you think this was a message to us?" Woolsey asked.

"It wouldn't surprise me."

"Well if that's true, we will want to warn all of our allies."

The two climbed the stairs to the control room just as the stargate activated. The alarm sounded and they rushed to Chuck.

"Any IDC?" Woolsey asked.

"It's the Athosians." Chuck responded.

"Let them through."

"And radio Teyla." Lydia said.

Lydia went down to the gate as the shield was lowered. Jinto came walking through with a gun in hand. The Lantean guards aimed at him until Lydia shouted at them to stand down. A woman with auburn hair came walking through the gate, dragging a woman by the hair behind her. The auburn haired woman threw the woman she was dragging to Lydia's feet. She shouted when she hit the floor and groaned, putting her hand on the bleeding wound on her forehead.

"Lana?" Teyla ran into the room and faced the auburn-haired woman. "What is going on?"

"We found this woman in the village," Lana said pointing at Lydia's feet, "she is Genii."

Lydia crouched down and pushed the woman onto her back. She wore a black trench coat. Lydia pulled it away, revealing a green Genii uniform.

"She was holding this." Jinto handed Teyla a C-4 switch. "We know what it is from training with Ronon."

"Speaking of," Lana said, "where is he?"

"He is still on his way back from Earth." Teyla said smiling.

"Did you find the C-4?" Lydia asked.

"Yes," Lana said, "it was under a bush next to the lake."

Lana held out a piece of C-4 that was strapped to a pipe.

"Take that to Dr. Zelenka," Lydia said to one of the guards, "and be careful with it."

The guard rushed away with the bomb as Woolsey came down the stairs.

"What is going on?" He asked looking around.

"The Genii were planning on bombing my people." Teyla said.

"I think we were right," Lydia said, "they're attacking our allies."

-…-

The woman sat silently in the observation room. She hadn't said a word since she had been dragged through the gate. Her head had been quickly patched up and now had a white bandage on her forehead. Woolsey, Teyla, and Lydia watched her from above. Zelenka walked into the room.

"It is a smaller version of their nuclear bomb." He said.

"Is that why the radiation levels started to get higher?" Teyla asked.

"Yes."

"Alright," Lydia sighed, "I'm going in."

"Don't take it too far." Woolsey warned her.

"I'll try not to be Ronon. Although I do wish he was here."

Lydia went down the stairs, past the guards, and entered the isolation room. She pulled out the chair across from the woman, it skidding on the floor, and sat down at the table. She folded her hands and starred the woman in the eye. The woman starred back, not breaking eye contact.

"My name is Colonel Lydia Barkova. Can you tell me your name?"

The woman stayed silent, slightly cocking her head to the side.

"I know you can understand me and that you are Genii." Lydia said leaning forward. "This will go a lot faster and easier if you tell me what I want to know.

The woman didn't move. Lydia stood up and started slowly circling the table.

"We're not going to kill you." Lydia put her arms behind her back. "You know, our people used to help each other. We've never really been friends, but we do have a common enemy. I don't see why we don't just help each other."

The woman rolled her eyes. Lydia sighed, her blood beginning to boil. A few curses ran through her mind, both English and Russian. She took a deep breath, tried to relax, and looked the woman in the eyes.

"Why is Halina doing this?"

The woman just stared back. Her jaw was clenched and her arms were folded over her chest. Lydia looked up at Woolsey and Teyla. She sighed.

"Fine," Lydia said and started to circle the table again, "I didn't want to do this but it looks like I have to."

Lydia grabbed the woman's hair and slammed the side of her face down on the table. She leaned down so they could be face to face.

"You better tell me what I want to know!" Lydia shouted in her face.

"You said you wouldn't hurt me." The woman finally cried out.

"No, I said I wouldn't kill you. There is a big difference. Now, what is your name?"

"Evie."

"Hello, Evie," Lydia asked loosening her grip, "can you tell me why is Halina doing this?"

"She thinks if she can take out you and your allies, then we will be the main power in the fight against the Wraith."

"Why does she want that?"

"She wants to prove our people are strong and that we don't need you. She also wants to be the leader of many planets."

"Where is Halina?"

Evie stayed silent. Lydia tightened her grip and started to pull on her hair. Evie shouted and her hands flung back to her head.

"Tell me, Evie!"

"But Halina said she would kill me!"

"Tell me," Lydia stopped pulling, "and I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

"Alright! I'll tell you."

Lydia took her hand off of Evie's hair and walked to the other side of the table. Mr. Woolsey came bursting into the room.

"Outside, now." He said.

Lydia looked at him and back at Evie.

"I'll be back for the address," she said, "and it better be correct."

Lydia left Evie and walked into the hall with Woolsey.

"What the Hell was that?" Woolsey asked. "I thought you were going to keep control."

"I said I would try not to, but she pissed me off too much."

"You took it too far."

"Look, Mr. Woolsey," Lydia said, "I don't know about you, but I was taught to do anything for family. Teyla is like my sister and by extension the Athosians are family. She almost blew them all to Hell and I was not letting her get away with that. Not to mention the fact that Halina is threatening to do the same to Atlantis. If you really want to punish me, go right ahead, just wait until I finish this."

Lydia sighed and watched him. He paused and then nodded. She walked past him, back into the room and got the gate address.

-…-

"Lydia," Teyla said, "you do know this could very well be a trap. Evie might not even know it either."

"I know," Lydia said, "which is why I'm giving you the option to turn around and go back to Atlantis."

The two and a two team were sneaking around some buildings on the planet that Evie gave them. The planet seemed deserted, but they all very well knew that the Genii could be hiding. Lydia looked around the corner of a wall as Teyla thought for a moment.

"No, I'm staying." She said. "I saw what you did and Mr. Woolsey told me wht you sad about my people and me. I'm staying with you."

"Thank you." Lydia smiled. "Alright, this is the building. I want you to take team B around back. Radio me when you get there and we'll all enter at once."

She nodded and led a team around the side with her. Lydia sat listening for a moment. Teyla's voice came over the radio. Lydia took a deep breath and broke down the door in front of her. Lanteans flooded the one room building. No other soul stood inside. Teyla and Lydia met in the middle of the room.

"Of course." Lydia said looking around.

"Colonel," one Lieutenant said from across the room, "there is a letter here for you."

"A letter?" Lydia asked as she and Teyla crossed the room.

An envelope with the words "to Sheppard or Barkova" on it rested on a desk. Lydia picked up the letter, a click sounding from underneath. She pulled it away revealing a bomb like they had found before, only this one had a timer. 3:00, 2:59, 2:58, 2:57…

"Oh, shit," Lydia's eyes widened, "everyone out now!"

* * *

**A/N: Busiest. Week. Ever. - I found out I'm going to be an aunt (so excited!). My mom had cataract surgery. I went to the doctor for my "old woman" knees and now I have to get x-rays and maybe surgery. And to top it all off, I had horrible writer's block. So, yeah, I love you guys and your patience. :)  
****Reviews are awesome and much appreciated! **

**"destined to explode" - Time Bomb by All Time Low**


	16. the other half of me

Woolsey raced out of his office as the gate's shield went up and the alarm went off. Chuck's eyes went from screen to screen and then up to his commander.

"It's Lt. Brown's IDC, sir." Chuck said.

"Already?" Woolsey asked. "Open it. Radio a med team and tell them to be ready just in case."

The shield lowered. Lt. Brown and other military personnel came running through the gate. Woolsey ran down the steps. People stopped running through the stargate but it remained open.

"Where are the Colonel and Teyla?" Woolsey asked.

"They were right behind us, sir."

Lydia and Teyla came staggering through the gate, Lydia tripping over herself and falling on the ground.

"Close the shield!" Teyla shouted at Chuck.

The shield went down over the blue surface. A few seconds later the explosion reverberated off of the other side of the shield.

"What was that?" Woolsey asked.

"The trap they had waiting for us." Lydia said as Teyla helped her up.

"Well, at least everyone got back alive." Mr. Woolsey sighed as the military personnel went to get cleaned up. "Anything there other than a bomb?"

"Just this note," Lydia said holding it up, "I haven't read it yet."

"Alright," he said, "go to the infirmary and get checked up."

-…-

Lydia sat eating her breakfast in the mess hall the next morning. She read over the note for the fifth time, soaking it all in. John came sauntering in and sat across from her.

"Welcome back," Lydia said, looking up, "how was the ride back?"

"Just wonderful," John said sarcastically while fighting off a yawn, "sharing a room with those two was interesting."

"I can only imagine." Lydia laughed.

"I heard that you and Teyla had quite an adventure." John said stealing some of her eggs.

"Yeah, we and any of our allies could get bombed at any moment." Lydia said.

"How are Lorne and Mercer?"

"Still recovering, they should be back at it in a few weeks." Lydia said. "Oh, and then there's this sarcastic note Halina left us."

"What does it say?"

"Basically that we're fools for thinking she would actually be there and that if we survived her bomb that we shouldn't get comfortable. Blah, blah, blah. Oh, and she left a letter specifically for you."

Lydia pulled out a smaller envelope that was inside the first one with John's name sprawled across it. John tore it open and unfolded it, revealing bold words written on it.

**Don't worry, you won't die in any explosion. I'm going to make sure I kill you myself. – Halina**

"Well," John said showing her the note, "I can't wait."

"She really hates, doesn't she?" Lydia said. "I guess I would, too, if you killed my father."

"I didn't want to kill him, he wanted to kill me and I defended myself."

"I guessed that, I can't see you just killing someone without a good reason."

"Thanks." John said stealing more of her breakfast."

"Seriously?" Lydia said pulling back her tray. "Go get your own."

"Come on," he said, "I'm tired and I didn't get to eat anything yet."

"Are you two fighting over food like monkeys?" Rodney asked, sitting down next to John. He had a large cup of coffee in hand and a piece of bacon hanging out of his mouth.

"At least we talk without food in our mouths." Lydia said as John secretly stole more of her food. She saw him out of the corner of her eye and grumbled.

"Well," Rodney said still chewing his food, "you should both finish up. Major Hodgins dialed in and said his team found an Ancient lab."

"We haven't been back an hour." Sheppard said.

"You're really going to stay here instead of possibly finding the end of the Wraith?" Lydia asked while getting up.

John grumbled as he stood up from the table and followed them out of the mess hall.

-…-

John slid his sunglasses over his eyes and looked up at the sun as he trudged through the long grass. His team along with a few scientists trekked behind him. Levine huffed and puffed beside Lydia.

"Being in a lab all day has really taken you out of shape." Lydia said.

"Yeah," Levine said, "my body's forgotten what it's like to be on a team."

"Well, being on a team doesn't really mean anything. Rodney's been on a team for how many years and he's still out of shape."

Rodney was practically running to keep up with John. He stumbled a few times and was already out of breath. But even with all of that, he was managing to still talk to John. He was talking with his hands and annoying Sheppard.

"At least we're booth better than Zelenka."

Zelenka was huffing and puffing and practically being dragged along by Ronon. Lydia and Dean laughed.

"Maybe when you get your own team, I can be on it."

"My own team?" Lydia said. "I almost forgot about that."

Lydia watched as John and Rodney lightly argued over something. Then as Teyla made Ronon laugh hardily. She smiled and then frowned a little.

"I would like to have you on my team again." She said looking at him. "You and Zoe. We'll just have to see if the IOA approves it."

"How can they not? They have to see how dangerous and stupid it is to have their two military leaders on the same team." He said excitedly. "Now I just have to wait five months for them to come for the 'one year checkup.'"

"Yeah, can't wait."

They entered a small building that was attached to the side of a hill. The first room was rather small but opened up into a large lab. Rodney and Zelenka ran in like two little children in a candy store. Major Hodgins approached the two Colonels and saluted. John lazily saluted back and Lydia saluted with a smile on her face. John opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Rodney.

"What did you touch?" Rodney asked rudely.

"Why do you always assume people do something wrong, Rodney?" Teyla asked.

"Because they usually do with stupid curiosity."

"We only touched it to see if it had power, Dr. McKay." Hodgins said. "When it lit up, we immediately dialed Atlantis."

""Which is exactly what he's supposed to do." John said.

Rodney grumbled, going back to work. The room was filled with a few computers. McKay was working on one huge, main computer that was on the furthest wall. A large keyboard sat underneath with a peninsula jutting out on either side of him. Each one had handprints etched into like at the lab on the ice planet. Rodney plugged in his tablet and quickly went to work. John looked over the handprints and hovered his hand over them.

"Don't do it." Rodney warned, not even looking up.

"I wasn't going to." John said pulling away and the leaning on it.

"He's not that stupid, Rodney." Lydia said leaning on the other peninsula.

"You think I'm stupid?" John asked.

"No, I was being sarcastic."

"Good, because I could've been in Mensa."

"Here we go again." Rodney said under his breath and rolling his eyes.

"You in Mensa? That's a joke, right?"

"No, I took the test years ago and passed. I didn't join though because, well, look what I would be like." John said nodding at Rodney.

"Haha, very funny. "McKay said sarcastically. "Will you two let me go back to work?"

"So, how's Alfred?" John asked ignoring Rodney.

"Why do you care?"

"I'm not allowed to make conversation?"

"You just don't ask about him a lot."

"Well, I'm asking now."

"He's fine."

"You two sleep together yet?"

"Excuse me?" Lydia asked. "That's none of your business."

"That's an obvious no. Which is surprising, you two have been going out for two months now."

"I don't carelessly sleep with people like you do."

"I don't do that."

"Well, it sure seems like you do."

"Will you two shut up?" Rodney snapped. "I can't work with you both bickering over my shoulder. For all we know, this computer could hold the way of defeating the Wraith."

John and Lydia shut up and looked around. Zelenka and Levine were typing away on other computers. Teyla and Ronon sat at the entrance of the building with Major Hodgins and his team.

"There," Rodney said, "I think I've found what this thing does."

He pressed a few buttons on his tablet. Suddenly, the handprints lit up. Blue orbs surrounded John and Lydia. They circled them for a minute and then finally disappeared, the two of them collapsed. Rodney paused, his mouth agape. The others quickly surrounded him.

-…-

John slowly opened his eyes, letting them readjust to the bright light. The infirmary came into view, nurses scurrying around. Dr. Keller looked over him and smiled. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's good to see you're awake." She said. "How are you feeling?"

He went to speak, but was unable to speak. He coughed a few times.

"Ok, ok," Jennifer said trying to calm him down, "we don't know what that device did to you two yet, but I can't see it just taking away your voice. You'll probably get it back soon."

John nodded. She got up and got him a cup of water.

"Unfortunately, John hasn't woken up yet."

He looked at her curiously, waiting for her to correct herself.

"What?" She asked while handing him the cup.

He looked down at his hands as he reached for the cup and gasped. He accidently pushed the cup onto the floor as he looked down at long, thin fingers with dark pink polish on the nails. He pulled off the blanket and looked down to hairless, thin legs. Blonde hair fell in his face, He found his voice again, shouting. He went to get up, but Jennifer and a few nurses pushed him back down. She kept asking him what was wrong, but he was too panicked to answer.

A shout came from the bed next to him. The person came bolting out of the bed and stood next it, looking down at his hands. John was watching at his own body panic. His body looked at him and its mouth fell open.

"John?" It asked curiously and he nodded.

"Lydia?" He asked and she nodded back. "Why are you in my body?"

"Why are you in mine?" She asked back.

"I don't know, but we need to find Rodney."

-…-

John and Lydia were placed in the observation room until Jennifer and Rodney could figure out what was going on. Lydia paced the room.

"I would kill Rodney if we didn't need him to fix this." She said.

"I don't know," John said, "I trust Zelenka enough to fix this."

John sat down with his head in his hands. He pushed the blonde hair behind his ear and fell right back into his face.

"Put my hair up if it's annoying you." Lydia said.

John awkwardly put his hair up with the hair tie around his wrist.

"That looks like crap." Lydia said stopping.

"Sorry I've never had to put my hair up before."

Lydia sighed and stood behind him. She took the band out of his hair and pulled up into a ponytail. John was thoroughly embarrassed, but glad no one had seen it.

"Why do you always where this thing?" Lydia said looking down at John's black armband.

"It's personal." He said without looking at her.

"Why can't you tell me?" Lydia asked pulling at it.

"Stop!" John said standing up. "I never take it off. You have to promise to not take it off."

"Ok," Lydia said letting it go, "can you tell me why you where it?"

"I will, later, when this is all over."

Lydia nodded and began pacing again. She stopped and looked up at the empty observing room above them. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side.

"Don't stand like that." John said.

"Stand like what?" Lydia asked.

"Like a girl."

"But I am a girl."

"Not right now, you're in a man's body."

"Then I guess you're the girl."

"I am not a girl." John said.

Lydia gave him a look.

"Ok, point taken." John said. "Just try not to stand like that."

"It's my body right now; I can stand however I want."

"If you can do whatever you want, then I can do whatever I want." John said.

"What do you mean?" Lydia asked.

"I can't wait to get out of here and take a shower." John smirked.

"Oh, no," Lydia said stopping him, "that's going over the line."

"If I have to live with these awkward things on my chest," he pointed at her breasts, "then I should be able to see them."

"You're such a pig!" Lydia said. "I have to live with this weird thing in-between my legs and I don't want to see it!

"First of all, it's not weird, it's natural."

"A lot of natural things are weird." Lydia said.

"Second," John said ignoring her, "what if this lasts a couple of days? Do you want your body to smell?"

"I'd rather smell than have you see my naked body. Hopefully living with those 'awkward things' will make you less of a womanizer."

"How so?"

"Maybe it will make you realize that they're not just your play things. They hurt. They can be awkward. They're not always fun."

"Or maybe this will make me appreciate them more."

Lydia rolled her eyes at him as Rodney and Jennifer walked into the room.

"Well, it seems as if you two have switched bodies." Rodney said.

"Really, Rodney?" John asked sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed."

"I think what he means to say is that you two have only switched bodies." Jennifer said. "Nothing else is wrong with you. Which means you can go back to your daily lives as much as possible."

"Now if you excuse me, I'm going back to the planet to get you two back to normal." Rodney went to turn out of the room and then stopped, "If I were you two, I would set some ground rules."

-…-

"Rule number one, no sex."

"Well obviously," John said, "you won't even let me look at your chest."

"I just wanted to make sure." Lydia said.

"You know, I'm not that much of a womanizer as you think I am. I do most of it just to mess with you."

John stopped and watched as the redheaded nurse walked by.

"You were saying?" Lydia asked sarcastically.

"Look," he said, "I would never do anything like that in your body, I promise."

"I know." Lydia said.

"Hello," Al said coming over and kissing John on the lips.

John's face was petrified and Lydia started laughing. Al looked from one to the other, confusion written on his face.

"I guess word hasn't spread around Atlantis yet." Lydia said. "Come on, Alfred, I need to talk to you."

Lydia practically dragged the confused man away to a table a few feet away. John downed his water bottle, swishing some around in his mouth. The redheaded nurse came back around and sat across from him.

"You're Colonel Barkova, right?" she asked.

"Um, well," John said.

"I'm Summer," she interrupted, "and I know that you're good friends with Colonel Sheppard."

"Oh," John perked up, "we're really good friends. But just friends, nothing else."

"Great," she smiled, "would you be able to tell him that I like him a lot? I mean I think he's really attractive and I'd love to go out with him. Maybe tell him in a nicer way."

"Sure, I can do that."

"Thank you!" She said running off.

John watched her run out of the mess hall and smiled.

"I'm so, so sorry." Alfred said as he and Lydia returned.

"It's fine, you didn't know." John said. "I'm just scarred for life."

"You're not the only one." Al said.

"I thought it was funny." Lydia said, getting a glare from the two.

"I guess it's just another day in the Pegasus galaxy." Al said.

-…-

"Why did you two come along again?" Rodney asked.

"I wanted to help." Teyla said simply.

"I just wanted an opportunity to possibly shoot something." Ronon shrugged.

"Well, great," McKay said, "Teyla, go over with Zelenka and Levine. They should have something for you to do. Ronon, I guess just stand there."

Rodney went back to work on the large computer in the lab. Ronon took out his gun, nonchalantly spinning it on his finger. He walked around, looking at all the computers. He stopped, looking over Rodney's shoulder.

"Do you mind?" Rodney asked annoyed.

Ronon took a few steps back but kept looking over the computer. Ancient words were sliding down the screen. McKay was focused on his tablet when his face dropped.

"Oh no,"

"What?" Ronon asked. Teyla came over.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to switch them back."

"Why?" Teyla said.

"Can't you just put their hands on the handprints and push a button." Ronon said stepping closer to the machine.

"No, it doesn't work like that." McKay said. "Once two people switch, they can't be switched back. This machine stores people's genetics so it knows who they switch and won't let them switch back."

"Why would the ancestors make a machine that does this?" Teyla asked.

"I don't know," Rodney said, "they probably didn't do it on purpose. Presumably this was an unforeseeable side effect and they didn't have time to fix it because of the war with the Wraith.

"You know Sheppard and Lydia are going to kill you, right?" Ronon said.

"Trust me, I know." Rodney said getting back to work.

"Well, it's a good thing you're a genius, Rodney." Teyla said.

Rodney typed away on his tablet. His brow furrowed. His eyes widened.

"What?" Rodney looked at the tablet then back at Ronon who was standing close to him. "Oh, no. No, no, no,"

The handprints lit up. Blue orbs started surrounding the two of them. They circled Rodney and Ronon for a minute and then finally disappeared. Then the two of them collapsed.

-…-

"Oh my God,"

"Is this a joke?"

John and Lydia watched in disbelief as Jennifer checked Rodney and Ronon.

"No," Dr. Rossi said, "they, too, have switch bodies."

"Rodney, how did you let this happen?" John asked.

"I don't know," Rodney said in Ronon's body, his deep voice saying this, "I was checking out the machine and all of a sudden it just turned on."

Woolsey walked into the room.

"So it's true then," he said

"Yep, we've all switched bodies." John said.

"Except me," Teyla said, "I'm still the same."

"Well maybe you and Woolsey can switch and join the fun." Lydia said.

"Yeah, it's not like you'll be him for long, Rodney's almost done getting things back to normal." John said. "Right?"

"Did you tell them that you think you won't be able to switch them back?"

"Wait, what?" Lydia asked.

"No," Rodney said annoyed, "I was going to wait to tell them."

"Let me get this straight," John said, "we're stuck like this."

"Only for now, the machine can't switch the same two people back. But don't worry, I'll figure this out." Rodney said giving an unconvincing smile.

"Oh, yeah, I'm real convinced." John said.

"Come on, have I ever let you down?" Rodney asked, Lydia and John gave each other a look. "Wait, don't answer that. Have I ever let you down when it truly mattered?"

"I guess not." John said.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I trust you Rodney."

"All I have to say is that you're dead if you don't fix this." Ronon said getting up and leaving.

"Yeah, I figure that." Rodney said.

-…-

Teyla and Lydia walked into the sparing room. Ronon was already there trying to work out Rodney's body with weights.

"Ronon, what are you doing?" Teyla asked.

"I am not living in this flabby body." Ronon said struggling with a weight that he could usually lift with ease.

"It's not your body," Lydia said, "it's Rodney's."

"Yeah, well, right now it's mine. I have never been this out of shape before, not even when I was a kid."

"Whatever, you can be the one to deal with Rodney's complaining when gets this sorted out." Lydia said.

"What are you two doing down here?"

"Girls night," Lydia said, "Teyla's teaching me how to meditate."

"But you're not really a girl right now."

"I'm still a girl, just in a man's body."

"No matter how weird it seems." Teyla said laughing.

The two went to the other side of the room, leaving Ronon alone. They both sat down cross-legged across from each other.

"I know Zoe is still recovering, but where is Jennifer?" Teyla asked.

"She's helping Rodney try to figure this out." Lydia said.

"She must be loving the situation Rodney and Ronon are in." Teyla said giggling.

"Why?" Lydia asked confused.

"I guess she never told you that she and Ronon had a little bit of a thing before she started going out with Rodney."

"No way," Lydia said laughing. "And now she has Rodney's brain in Ronon's body."

"Although," Teyla said, "she did say she liked Rodney's body the way he is."

"Yeah, but she could still be liking the situation. I'm not saying she doesn't love Rodney the way he is, but everyone looks."

Teyla smiled and started the meditation. She light a candle between them and instructed Lydia to take a deep breath in.

"And then slowly exhale, allowing each breath to cleanse you, restoring your body and spirit." Teyla said taking a slow breath. "Feel your mind clearing, open to all that surrounds you. Embrace the silence."

-…-

Lydia tossed and turned in her own bed. She stopped starring up at the ceiling. Sighing, she got up from the bed and went into the bathroom. Looking into the mirror, she stared at a face that wasn't hers. She felt the scruff that was growing on her chin, hoping that she wouldn't have to learn how to shave her face.

This night was a hot one. She silently cursed John for giving her long pajama pants. They had agreed that they could change clothing for that night as long as they kept the same underwear on.

There was a knock on her door. She slowly walked out of her bathroom and answered it. John, Rodney and Ronon were waiting on the other side. John held up a six-pack of beer. She invited them without a word. She, John and Rodney piled onto her bed and Ronon pulled up a chair.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Ronon asked Rodney.

"What? I'm not allowed a break?" Rodney said as John handed him a beer.

"I guess you are," Lydia said, "but only because it's the middle of the night."

"Thanks." Rodney said sarcastically.

"Any idea of when you'll have this fixed?" John asked.

"I'm working on it." Rodney said.

"So you have no idea." Lydia said. "Great."

The four sat in silence for a while, silently sipping their beers.

"Looks like you've decided to grow out a beard." John said gesturing to Lydia's scruff.

"A lot easier than learning how to shave my face."

"It can't be that different than shaving your legs."

"Well let's just say this," Lydia said, "I can easily cover up any nicks on my legs with long pants. What can I cover my face with?"

"Come on, I need to be clean shaven."

"Since when do you listen to military regulations? Because I'm sure this head of hair isn't up to par." Lydia said pointing to the messy hair that was currently on top of her head.

"At least he has hair." Ronon said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rodney asked.

"Face it, Rodney," John said, "you're going bald."

"I am not!"

"So why do you have that bottle of Rogaine in your cabinet?" John asked.

The three of them laughed as Rodney frowned.

"Yeah, who has the hot, serious girlfriend?" Rodney asked. "Oh, that's me."

They stopped laughing and Lydia shook her head.

"Well, I'm still glad if I had to switch bodies with someone it was Sheppard and not you."

"Wait, what?" Rodney asked, perking up.

"I'm glad I didn't switch with you." Lydia said slowly.

"That's it." Rodney said getting up and snapping his fingers. "I figured it out."

-…-

The next morning, they were all back on the planet. John walked into the lab and laughed at the sight of Rodney crouched over one of the computers. His currently big body was hunched over, typing away. He noticed the others entering and stood up.

"Alright, Rodney," John said, "what is this idea you've got?"

"We're going to play a little 'musical chairs' with our bodies." Rodney said.

"Musical chairs?" Lydia said.

"We're going to simply rotate our minds through the affected circle of people instead of trying a direct exchange." He said.

"I'm trusting you with this." John said.

"I guess you two should be ready in case we pass out again." Lydia said to Jennifer and Teyla.

"Alright," Rodney said, "Barkova and Ronon are up first."

"Us?" Lydia asked. "You're doing this just so I'm in your body."

"Well, you talking about it did give me this idea." Rodney smirked.

Lydia sighed and went up to the first peninsula. Ronon walked up to the other and looked at Rodney.

"This better work." He said.

Ronon and Lydia put their hands in the handprints and Rodney pushed a button. The blue orbs came flying out and quickly went away. Both of them were woozy but didn't faint this time. Lydia looked down at her new body.

"This is so strange and uncomfortable." She said looking down at Rodney's body.

"Well, at least Sheppard is stronger than McKay." Ronon said looking at his new body.

"Now it's mine and John's turn."

The two did the same as Ronon and Lydia. Blue orbs surrounded their bodies. Rodney fell to the ground, but didn't faint. He stood up and looked over his new body.

"This is so unnatural." Rodney said grimacing.

"I could stay like this." John said flexing Ronon's muscles. Hair fell into his eyes. "Except for the hair, that needs cut."

"You're not touching my hair." Ronon said, dragging John back to the handprints.

The two switched back to their bodies. John looked down at his own hands.

"Finally!" He said.

"This better not happen again." Ronon said walking away.

"Can we please get this over with?" Lydia asked.

"I would like my boyfriend to be himself again." Jennifer said.

Rodney and Lydia stepped up and put their hands down. The orbs went around them and made them woozy. Lydia stood straight up after her vision refocused. She ran a hand over her hair and frowned.

"Why are you frowning?" Teyla asked. "Are you yourself?"

"Yeah, I'm back to me," Lydia said, "my hair is just greasy."

"I told you that you'd smell without a shower." John said.

"I do not smell! If I smell, then you smell."

-…-

Lydia stood silently in her shower, letting the water run over her body. Being back in her own body felt strange, like it wasn't her own anymore. It was getting better as time wore on, but she didn't know if it would ever feel like it did before. Not to mention the throbbing headache she had.

The water ran over her hair. Flowing over her closed eyes, her chest and legs. She listened to it spiral down the drain. She ran a hand through her hair, getting used to the feeling of her own body again.

* * *

**A/N:The next chapter might come out faster if I get a nice amount of reviews, please and thanks :)  
Just a reminder, I have a list of my OCs and their descriptions on my profile page. I also have pictures up too! Go take a look :D**


	17. sounds like she's singing

John walked down the hall. The sound of bantos rods hitting each other got louder as he walked. He swiped his hand on the wall and the door opened. He was met by a crowd of men surrounding Teyla and Lydia.

Lydia swiped at Teyla, but she quickly dodged it by bending back at the hips. She quickly came back at Lydia, hitting her in the stomach and making her double over in pain. Teyla's other rod went in for another hit. Lydia swiftly met that with her rod, a cracking sound echoing through the room. Teyla sped up her moves, each cracking against Lydia's. The two women fought, almost dancing across the floor. The men watched as if in a trance. Their bare feet lead them across the floor. They were almost gliding on air. Teyla caught Lydia in the chest, pushing the woman onto her back. Lydia laid stunned for a moment before dropping her rods in defeat. The men began to clap for Teyla as she helped Lydia off the floor.

John watched as the men dispersed and the two women approached him. Lydia's blonde hair was up in a firm ponytail, the end swiping at her shoulders. Sweat ran down her chest, soaking her black sports bra. Her stomach was bare and firm. She stopped in front of him and put her hands on her hips.

"What is it Sheppard?" She asked.

"Um," John said racking his brain, "oh, neither of you were answering my radio contacts. Our mission's in an hour."

"An hour?" Lydia asked. "We've been at it for three hours."

"It did not seem like that long." Teyla said.

"It probably helped to have an audience." John said.

"You just wish girls would come and watch you when you spared." Lydia said sarcastically.

"I don't know if that would be best," Teyla said, "seeing as I kick his butt every time."

"Not every time." John protested as the girls laughed.

-…-

"What the Hell is this?"

The rest of the team stepped out of the stargate and into large room. The gate was surrounded by lights in the floor, the rest of the room was dark.

"Well, this definitely isn't the grass I was expecting." John said looking down at the floor.

"I thought the Wraith didn't like when worlds were advanced." Lydia said.

"They don't." Teyla said looking around with her flashlight.

All of the lights turned on in the room. About dozen men in navy uniforms ran into the room with weapons raised. The team instantly raised their guns. The men surrounded them. A head man came behind the men and approached the Lantean team.

"Who are you?"

"I was just about to ask the same thing." John said.

"Well seeing as my men are surrounding you, I would suggest you answer first."

"We are a team from Atlantis." Teyla said.

"Oh," the man said almost sneering, "we've been waiting for this moment many years now. We've heard a lot about you."

"Good things, I guess." Rodney smiled.

"Not exactly." He said, looking him over. Rodney's smiled dropped. "I am Captain Varrick, I will show you to the emperor."

His men stood down. Varrick led the team out of the room and into a halfway. He pushed a button in the wall and elevator doors opened up.

"We are currently underground," he said ushering them in, "the emperor is on the top floor."

The elevator began to move up. The walls surrounding them turned from brick to clear glass. The team looked out in amazement as a city got smaller under them. The city was industrialized, much more advanced than other worlds they had been to. The building they were in was the tallest building in the city. The streets bustled with people and vehicles.

"Those look like Model Ts." John said looking at the vehicles.

"Model Ts?" Teyla asked.

"They were the first affordable cars on Earth back in the 20s." Rodney said looking around.

"Almost looks like Sateda before it was destroyed by the Wraith." Ronon said.

"This place is amazing." Lydia said.

"Yes, this place almost looks like it fits in that sci fi genre," Rodney said, "steampunk I think it's called."

Varrick watched over the team. His gaze lingered on Lydia and Teyla. Lydia caught his gaze and he didn't look away. She unintentionally gave him a strange look and looked back outside. The elevator finally stopped and opened its doors. Varrick walked ahead of them down a hall lined with guards.

"What's wrong?" John asked referring to Lydia's furrowed brow.

"I don't know," she said, "Varrick was just giving us a weird look."

"He's probably just annoyed that he has to lead us around."

"No, it was more angry than annoyed."

"Maybe the guy's just having a bad day," Rodney said, "leave him alone."

The team entered a room that overlooked the other side of the city. The room held sofas and chairs, e long table with wooden chairs around it, and a desk on the other side of the room. A man sat behind the desk. His hair was black, a long beard going down to his shoulders. He sat flipping through some papers.

"Emperor Darius," Varrick took off his hat and bowed at the knee.

"Varrick," Darius said getting up from his seat, "who are these people?"

"They are travelers from the City of the Ancients." Varrick stood up. "They arrived through the portal."

"Welcome to Melchior, I am Emperor Darius."

"I'm Colonel John Sheppard," John said, "this is Dr. Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, and Colonel Lydia Barkova."

"It's nice to finally meet you all." He said shaking the three men's hands. He stopped in front of the two women and slightly bowed his head.

"Varrick tells us you've been waiting to meet us." Teyla said.

"Yes," the emperor's face became almost stern, "we've heard a lot about your people. Please sit and I assure you that you do not need your weapons."

"Well, I think we're going to hold on to them anyways." John said patting his P-90.

"Don't you trust us?" Varrick asked.

"It's not that, it's just," John paused and looked at Varrick, "fine, but we would like them out in the open."

"Of course," Darius smiled.

Varrick came around and took their P-90s, placing them on a table on the other side of the room. Ronon holstered his gun when Varrick came around, giving him a stern look. The team held onto their handguns.

A young woman entered the room and bowed her head. Her head almost touched her feet and she didn't stand up until Darius noticed her presence.

"Ah, Jules, thank you for joining us." Darius said. "I called you up here to meet the team from the City of the Ancients."

She smiled sweetly and bowed her head slightly. The team greeted her back.

"I would like you to take these to women on a tour of the city while I talk to the rest of the team."

"I would be glad to do that." She smiled.

"Wait, why don't we all talk and then go on a tour?" Sheppard asked.

"Yeah, why just them?" Ronon asked, getting defensive.

"Don't listen to them, sir," Lydia said pulling John back.

"Yes, we would love to go on a tour while you talk." Teyla said.

Teyla and Lydia followed Jules out of the room. John came jogging out of the room and stopped them.

"What was that about?"

"Look," Lydia whispered and pulled him closer, "I don't know if you've noticed, but their culture is a little male dominated. So instead of upsetting him and potentially getting thrown in jail, we went along with him and even stroked his ego a bit by admitting his idea was right."

"We'll be fine, John."

"Just don't get into any fights or anything."

"I think Teyla and I can control ourselves."

-…-

Lydia and Teyla looked out of the vehicle's window, watching this world's culture go by. Their driver steered through light traffic. Jules watched them intently across from them. The vehicle being set up almost like a carriage with passengers seated across from each other.

A few men walked down the sidewalk next to them. One of them said something and causing the rest to chuckle. A young couple walked past with two older couples behind them. The young woman wore a skirt to her knees, which was shorter than most other woman who had them past their ankles. Lydia looked back in at Jules, her skirt only showing the tip of her boots.

"Jules?" Lydia said catching the woman's attention. "Why do some women wear shorter skirts?"

"They are unmarried girls." She said. "They aren't considered women until they are married and it is inappropriate for a married woman to show off her body."

"Are you married to Emperor Darius?" Teyla asked.

"Yes, for six years now. We have three children." She sighed. "Are either of you married?"

"I am with a man, we have two sons."

"He must be very happy." Jules said and then looked to Lydia.

"Oh, no, not me. I'm not married."

"You do not have to get married where you are from?" Jules asked confused.

"No, we only get married if we wish." Teyla said.

"All of our men and women must get married."

-…-

"How have you been able to develop this much?" Rodney asked once the men were alone.

"What do you mean Dr. McKay?" Darius asked, folding his hands on his desk.

"The majority of world's we have visited in the galaxy are at low levels of development due to constant attacks by the Wraith."

"It does seem like you've never met the Wraith." Sheppard said lazily leaning back on his chair.

"The Wraith have not bothered us in some time." Darius smiled.

"The Wraith leave you alone?" Ronon said becoming curious. "Why you?"

"Do not ask me, son." Darius said getting up and looking out the window and over his people. "They have not taken any of my people for generations."

Another woman entered the room, bowing her head the same Jules did. She was older, much closer to Darius's age.

"Corrine, please come in." Darius said. "What do you need?"

"I was wondering if I could have a word with you alone." She said.

"Yes, of course. Excuse me."

Darius left the room with the woman, leaving the three men alone.

"There's something going on here." Rodney said.

"What makes you think that?" Ronon asked.

"You really think the Wraith would leave a developing world like this alone without some kind of catch?"

"Ancient device?" John asked.

"I don't think so. I haven't been getting any readings that suggest that." Rodney said pulling out a small device out of his pocket.

"Then what?" Ronon said.

"A deal," John said, "they might've made some type of deal with the Wraith. Like the Olesian's prison island."

"I didn't notice any prison island, did you?" Rodney asked sarcastically.

"Maybe the made a different deal, McKay."

McKay opened his mouth to make a comment back, but stopped once Darius returned.

"So," he said sitting down at his desk, "where were we?"

-…-

The women had exited the car and now were wandering through one of the city's markets. Others watched Teyla and Lydia curiously but smiled when they saw Jules. She bowed her head, greeting them, and the bowed back. A few children ran around them. One little girl tripped, catching herself. Lydia quickly picked her back up. The girl looked over Lydia and Teyla with a confused look on her face. They both smiled at her and she smiled back. A man a few feet away shouted at her and she ran off in his direction.

"Hey, Jules," Lydia said, "how did you end up marrying the emperor?"

"My father is a wealthy business man. He is very closely associated with our government and my husband."

"It must be very tiring being your leader's wife." Teyla said. "You are probably a leader of some things yourself."

"Well, I am not alone." He said.

"What do you mean?"

Jules swallowed, almost saying that she had said too much. She looked away and down the road. Teyla and Lydia looked at each other and then back around themselves. Men and woman walked around the market. They looked closer and noticed a grown man with a woman on each arm. Not in a sexual manner, but you could tell he was not their brother. Another man walked with three women behind him, almost a dozen children with them.

Lydia passed shoulder to shoulder with a group of officers. At the last minute, one moved over so he would smack shoulders with her. She fell back and caught herself before her back and head hit the ground.

"Watch your way, woman." He smirked.

"Excuse me?" Lydia asked getting up. Jules tried to stop her. "It was your fault."

"What did you say to me?" The officer and his companions faced her. "You do not talk to a man like that."

"Looks like I just did." Lydia said getting in his face.

The officer backhanded Lydia in the face, scratching her cheek and lip with his nail. She gasped and her hand went to her lip. By now the whole market had stopped and was watching.

"And what are you two wearing?" Another officer said dragging Teyla over by the sleeve.

"Very inappropriate," the original man said, "almost like they were trying to be men. Can you believe -"

Lydia came up, punching him in the nose. The man staggered back, his hand going to his face. Blood poured from his nose into his hand. He looked down at it, his surprise turning into anger. He gritted his teeth and swung back. Lydia quickly dodged, swiping her foot under his knee and bringing him down. Teyla was dealing with two police officers. One pulled out a night stick, swatting it at her. She quickly caught it, surprising him. In one full motion, she pulled it out of his hand and smacked him in the face with it. The other officer quickly went to hit her but she dodged, hitting him in the stomach with the baton. He doubled over in pain. Teyla took the opportunity to step up onto his shoulder, propelling herself up. She turned back quickly in the air to smack him in the back of the head, knocking him out.

Jules watched on in horror as more officers came running past her. The two Lantean women had taken out their original attackers, but now had pistols pointed at them. They slowly put their hands up in defeat. The officers roughly apprehended them. Another officer came behind Jules and handcuffed her.

"Hey! She had nothing to do with this!" Lydia shouted.

"Well, to us it looks like she was your accomplice." He smirked

"She is your emperor's wife." Teyla said.

"Then that makes it even worse."

-…-

"I thought you said you said you would be able to control yourselves." John said looking through the prison bars.

"Well, I guess not." Lydia said from the other side, crossing her arms.

"Why did you attack them?" Rodney asked.

"We didn't attack them." Lydia said.

"We were provoked." Teyla said.

"One of them 'accidently' ran into me and then was rude about. They began to gang up on us."

"Lydia is right, we were defending ourselves."

"Fine, we'll see if we can find a way to get you out of here." John said turning away.

"Wait," Jules said standing up from the bench in the cell, "where is my husband?"

The boys turned back around and looked at each other.

"He said he was disappointed in you," McKay finally said, "he doesn't want to see you anymore. He also wants a divorce."

Jules sat back down and sighed. None of them were expecting this, especially with the sound of relief it had.

"You're ok with this?" Ronon asked.

"I never wanted to be married to him." She said.

"Why?" Teyla asked.

"If you haven't already figured it out, it is traditional for a man to have many wives. I am Darius's ninth wife. He is soon to have ten. I figured out that this is not normal in your culture from the way you two reacted when I asked if you were married." Jules said to Lydia and Teyla. "Darius has always been neglectful and rude, only carrying about his wives when one was in bed with him or when they were representing him in public. But, not all men are like him or the officers. Not even all men with multiple wives are like that. Some truly love their wives."

"Not all men have multiple wives?" Lydia asked.

"No, but it is very taboo. They are looked down upon. But this is actually what I wanted, to be an only wife. And it almost happened for me." Jules said. "My older sister was supposed to marry Darius and I fell in love with a man that worked for my father's business. He was poor, but he was smart, handsome, and kind. He told me that he didn't need any other wives to make him happy. We planned to run away, but then my sister got sick and passed away. I was the only other daughter, so I was made to marry Darius."

"I'm sorry." Lydia said.

The room stayed silent until Rodney piped up.

"I know this isn't the best time," he said, "but now that we know we can trust you, we have a question."

She looked up at them. Rodney looked at John.

"Why don't the Wraith attack your people?" Sheppard asked.

"The government has a deal with them to sacrifice people every month." She said simply.

The group's eyes widened.

"Women?" Teyla asked.

"No," Jules said, "young, poor men. Not only does it keep the Wraith from culling us, it also gets rid of competition for wives. The less men there are, the more women there are for the rest. Especially for the rich and powerful."

"That's disgusting." Lydia whispered.

"That is why I want to leave."

"Really?"

"Yes, I've always wanted to leave since I married Darius. Especially now since I'll be living in prison. Even if I got out, I'd be living on the streets. Do you think you could help me? Take me with you when you leave?"

"Well," John sighed and looked at the others, "I'll try to convince Darius to let you leave with us. But I'm not going to promise."

She nodded and the boys left.

-…-

"I understand that they are your people," Darius said, "but I cannot just let them go. They physically beat some of our men. And taking Jules with you is also out of the question."

"We promise to leave as soon as you let them go and never come back." John said.

"No," Darius said staring them down.

"Well, I actually have a question." Rodney said.

"Yes?"

"Why, after seeing our two women beat your officers senseless, do you still think your women are frail?"

"I don't think that, Dr. McKay," Darius said, "we know women are strong and smart. We just don't want them to think know that they are strong and smart. Could you imagine the chaos and culture change? I like order."

"Wait," John said getting and idea, "you said you like order. But what if that order went away in another way?"

"What do you mean?" Darius asked.

"Jules told us about how you sacrifice innocent men to the Wraith so you are not culled." John said.

"It was a deal made with them generations ago. To undo it would cause anarchy."

"Well we also have a deal with the Wraith."

"You do?" Darius said sitting straight up in his chair.

"We do?" Rodney whispered to John.

"With a Wraith named Todd who just so happens to be near the top of their hierarchy. Just one discussion with him could convince him that your deal is wrong. He could tell his the Queen Mother that your planet is overpopulated and needs to be culled."

"You don't have that power." Darius said confidently.

"Do you really want to take that chance?"

Darius sighed and sat back in his chair.

"Are you going to let our people go or not?" Ronon asked gruffly.

"It's not that simple."

"You're the emperor, how can it not be simple?" Rodney asked.

"The backlash from the people will be great. How can I just release three women that attacked officers?"

"You don't tell the people." Rodney said. "You lie and say they are still in there and always will. It's not like we're ever coming back."

Darius watched them silently. He got up from his desk and looked out the window overlooking the huge city.

"Fine."

-…-

They waited until night time to move Lydia, Teyla, and Jules. The sky was pitched black and stars filled the sky. Lydia watched the town disappear as they went underground in the elevator. The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened. Varrick led them out into the dark room that held the stargate. John, Rodney, and Ronon were already there waiting along with many guards. Varrick removed the handcuffs around their wrists.

"Remember," he said, "you promised to never come back and to leave us alone."

John nodded and began to dial the gate. It opened, filling the room with light. The team instantly walked through. Jules stayed behind for a moment and looked around the room. She sighed, turned, and walked through the stargate.

-…-

John wandered into the mess hall, rubbing he sleep from his eyes. He had been sleeping just fine, but his mind woke him up because he knew she wasn't. He looked around finding it completely empty. He was just about to turn and leave when he saw a figure sitting outside on the balcony. He walked out and found her sitting at a table, her feet propped up on the railing beside her, and staring up at the two full moons.

"Hey," he said catching her attention, "I brought cherry pie."

He placed a pie on the table between them along with two forks.

"Where'd you find it?" She asked, pulling her legs down.

"Snatched it from the kitchen," he said sitting down, "along with these."

He pulled a can of beer out of each pocket in his pajama pants, handing one to her.

"Thanks," she said grabbing it and placing it on the table, unopened.

"Something wrong?" He asked while taking a swing of his.

"Just everything."

"You know you can talk to me, Barkova."

She gritted her teeth and looked away, stopping herself from getting upset. After taking a deep breath, she began to talk.

"You would think after going through so much shit you would forget some of it, but you don't. I remember so many things, so much pain, so much fighting. It takes so much time and hardship to get any pay off. If it's not aliens trying to suck the life out of you, it's another enemy trying to kill all of our allies so they can take over. Or another race taking away their people's rights and sacrificing their citizens. And you know what sucks even worse than all that? Even if we do defeat the Wraith and fix every other little problem, something else will go wrong. Some evil alien will evolve and cause terror or some leader will become power hungry and try to kill every person that doesn't agree. It's always something."

John watched her silently, not knowing what to say. She looked at him and then grabbed her beer. She furiously opened it and chugged about half of it. She choked, slamming the can down and coughing crazily.

"Whoa," John said, "calm down."

He helped calm down her coughing. She then took a few deep breathes and calmed herself down emotionally.

"I know things are hard," John said awkwardly, "but you're supposed to be the upbeat girl. You're the confident, strong woman. Don't forget that."

"Yeah, well even the strong woman has a crazy breakdown every once and a while." Lydia said smiling and John smiled back.

She finally picked up her fork and dug into the cherry pie. She took a bite, a bit of cherry falling onto her lip.

"You've got some cherry on your face." John said smiling.

"I do? Where?" Lydia asked.

"Right here." John said.

He gently brushed his thumb over her lips. His finger lingered there for a moment. It moved to the scratch on her cheek left rom earlier, gently caressing it. The rest of his hand grazed under her chin. She rested her chin on his hand and closed her eyes. She sighed, thinking about what was happening. Her eyes opened when she thought of Alfred and she leaned away. He quickly retracted his hand when he realized what was happening. Lydia blushed and hid it by pretending to wipe her lips off.

"Thanks for that." She said.

* * *

**A/N: long story short, being a maid of honor is hard work**

**"sounds like she's singing" - Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks**


End file.
